A federal judge denied Donald Trump's latest attempt to delay a defamation trial with author E. Jean Carroll because he found that neither party was getting any younger.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan issued an order Friday denying the former president's motion to stay the case pending an appeal of a previous ruling, saying he was not required to do so and raising concerns about the ages of both the plaintiff and the defendant in the trial, reported CNN.
“Both parties are of advanced age, and a stay of this case pending resolution of Mr. Trump’s appeal would threaten delaying any compensation to which Ms. Carroll might be entitled by at least several months, if not a year or more,” Kaplan wrote.
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Trump is 77 years old, while Carroll is 79, and the judge himself is in his late 70s.
Carroll sued the former president in 2019 for defamation after he denied her rape allegations, saying she wasn't his "type" and made up the claims to sell a book, and Trump's lawyers are appealing the judge's ruling that Trump had previously waived the use of presidential immunity as a defense.
“While there is a public interest in immunizing presidents for actions properly taken within the scope of their duties, there is a public interest also in ensuring that even presidents will be held accountable for actions that – as this Court already has determined in this case – do not come within that scope,” Kaplan wrote.
Carroll won a separate lawsuit against Trump earlier this year under the New York Adult Survivors Act for battery and defamation for statements he made in October, and a jury awarded her $5 million.
