Donald Trump seeks to pause E. Jean Carroll’s other defamation case

Donald Trump is asking a judge to put E. Jean Carroll’s pending defamation suit against him on hold until an appeals court decides on his bid to have her suit tossed out.

The embattled former president — who was found liable of sexual abuse and other defamation claims involving Carroll in May — still faces the “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist’s original defamation lawsuit alleging Trump, 77, defamed her in 2019 when she went public with her accusations.

Trump last month lost his attempt to have Carroll’s pending lawsuit dismissed, so he is now asking Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan to pause the case while he appeals the judge’s ruling.

Trump has maintained that he has absolute presidential immunity from the pending case — which would get him off the hook legally — because he was in office when he said he never met Carroll and called her case a “hoax.”

In Judge Kaplan’s decision rejecting that argument, the jurist stated that immunity is meant to keep a president from being distracted from the duties of the position — “not a ‘get out of damages liability free’ card.”


Donald Trump
Donald Trump is asking a judge to pause E. Jean Carroll’s pending defamation lawsuit against him while he appeals a related ruling.
AP

In the other case, in May, a jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages to Carroll, 79, finding him liable for sexually abusing her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s and then defaming her with an October 2022 lengthy statement on his social-media platform Truth Social.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba said in an emailed statement to The Post on Friday about the pending issue, “Both history and precedent support the notion that President Trump has a meritorious immunity defense in this case.

“As such, we are seeking a stay of proceedings pending the Second Circuit’s adjudication of this issue,” Habba wrote.

Separately, Trump also faces two criminal indictments, including one federal case in Florida for allegedly hoarding confidential national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office and then lying about it after.


E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for allegedly defaming her when he denied knowing her and called her sexual-abuse allegations a hoax.
ALEC TABAK

Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan
Last month, Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Trump’s bid to have Carroll’s suit dismissed — a ruling which Trump is now appealing.
Robert Strauss Center

On Thursday, additional charges were added to that case after it was discovered that Trump allegedly sought to have an employee delete footage at his Florida home to help in the cover-up.

He also faces a “hush money” case in New York for allegedly having former porn star Stormy Daniels paid off to keep her quiet about her claims she had an affair with him while he was married to current wife Melania Trump.

Trump’s lawyers have said they were notified their client would be indicted for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, too.

He also could be charged with racketeering for allegedly attempting to overturn the Georgia 2020 election results.

Carroll’s reps declined to comment to The Post on Friday.