Trump’s attorney requested a delay of the trial for the funeral of a potential juror who died before it began, however the federal judge denied his request and continued proceedings without interruption.
Alina Habba continued her cross-examination of E Jean Carroll this morning, alleging that the advice columnist failed to preserve evidence by deleting any threats she received after filing allegations of sexual assault at Bergdorf Goodman in 2019.
Tacopina reviewed a series of columns written by Carroll that encouraged his readers to report harassment including rape to police.
Alina Habba
Alina Habba is a New Jersey lawyer who has represented Donald Trump in several high-profile legal matters. Currently she serves as the Managing Partner at Habba Madaio & Associates LLP located in Bedminster and acts as Senior Advisor for MAGA Inc – a super PAC supporting his reelection campaign.
She requested a mistrial in the E. Jean Carroll case, asserting that Carroll’s testimony that she deleted messages containing death threats jeopardized their argumentation and Kaplan’s rulings limited their ability to question Carroll about these claims.
The judge found Habba’s request for a mistrial to be without merit and noted that missing messages did not significantly alter the jury’s verdict of awarding Carroll $83.3 million damages. Furthermore, he has severely criticized Habba as an attorney; warning her she will face jail time should she continue interrupting opposing counsel during trial proceedings and questioning her understanding of court rules of evidence.
Tacopina
Lawyers do not often request mistrials midway through trials, yet federal judge Lewis Kaplan denied attorney Alina Habba’s unusual midtrial request to dismiss Carroll from her testimony about receiving death threats after making public her rape claim against Trump.
Tacopina made this argument during cross-examination, suggesting Carroll only came forward decades after the incident due to her dislike for Trump and desire to promote her book about it. Furthermore, Tacopina challenged Carroll’s advice that her readers report any allegations, such as rape, directly to law enforcement authorities.
Tacopina in his letter noted several of Kaplan’s evidentiary rulings and comments in which he “openly expresses his bias toward one side or the other”. Tacopina noted the absence of certain threats which would have helped in his defense; further, Kaplan denied him opportunities to question Carroll about her efforts at Bergdorf Goodman where the assault allegedly took place.
Kaplan
The judge decided Carroll’s claim of having deleted messages containing death threats did not warrant a mistrial, since his questions did not allow for sufficient elicitation of their content and recovery methods; additionally, it remains uncertain if such information would have aided Trump’s defense strategy.
Tacopina stated in his letter to Kaplan that the judge’s statements “openly displayed favoritism for the defendant,” and requested if no mistrial is granted, Kaplan should correct the record and grant his team greater latitude to cross-examine Carroll and other plaintiff witnesses.
Kaplan received numerous academic honors including the Robert D. Klein Award, Mary L. Cornille Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Wellesley College and Fannie Hurst Professorship at Washington University; fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture were also bestowed upon him. Furthermore he served on multiple advisory boards and panels.
Decision
Carroll testified that her life has drastically changed since coming forward with her claims, saying she now is known as a “liar, fraud and whack job.” She showed jurors messages from people telling her to put a gun to her mouth or calling her out as Satan-worshipping Nazi. Carroll claimed she now sleeps with a loaded weapon nearby as protection, fears for her safety and is uncertain of the cost associated with increasing it.
Trump attorney Alina Habba had requested that Judge Lewis Kaplan declare a mistrial following Carroll’s admission to deleting messages she believed included death threats; however, Judge Kaplan denied her request on February 7 and allowed the trial to proceed as scheduled.
He instructed jurors that they do not need to find Trump liable for rape in order to award her damages, instead they can do so based on other allegations such as forcible touching and sexual abuse. Habba is scheduled to complete her cross-examination of Carroll on Thursday morning and the trial should resume thereafter.
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