Donald Trump to appear for deposition in E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

As part of the defamation case filed by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, former president Donald Trump is scheduled to provide testimony under oath on Wednesday.

Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in 2019 after he rejected her claim that he sexually assaulted her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Her deposition was slated to take place last Friday.

Trump’s testimony was permitted last week by a federal court who noted that the former President has previously made attempts to postpone the case and “should not be able to run out the clock.”

Whether Trump will reply to inquiries when he is questioned while being sworn in by Carroll’s attorney is unknown.

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Carroll recently declared her intention to sue Trump next month under a new New York State legislation that permits sexual assault victims to file lawsuits years after the assault. For more than a year, the defamation action has been stuck in court.

Trump and the Justice Department contended that Trump was a federal employee  according to a ruling made last month by a federal appeals court in New York and that the statements he made in response to reporters’ inquiries while he was in the White House disputing Carroll’s claims were made while he was there.

They contended that the Justice Department should be included as the defendant, which would put an end to the litigation because the government cannot be sued for defamation.

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Trump and the Department of Justice lost in the judgement of Judge Lewis Kaplan. 

But the federal appeals court wanted the appeals court in Washington, DC, to decide whether Trump made the allegedly defamatory remarks while operating within the bounds of his employment.

The Justice Department will be added as a defendant. The case has not yet been considered by the DC appeals court, and it is uncertain when or if it will.

Trump was required to take a deposition with the New York attorney general’s office this year after being compelled to do so by a New York State judge. Trump objected to being interviewed and used his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

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For allegedly cheating lenders and insurers through fraudulent financial statements, the New York attorney general’s office last month filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his oldest children, and the Trump Organization. Trump has asserted that the lawsuit is politically motivated and denied any misconduct.