After his legal team failed to respond, a federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s deposition in the rape case of E. Jean Carroll to be unsealed with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan chastising the former President’s legal team in his order.
Judge Kaplan pointed out that Trump’s legal counsel had 72 hours to act, saying the defense team was “obliged to file within three days a letter explaining the need to seal or redact the portions of the defendant’s deposition that was filed as part as an exhibit,” Law & Crime reported.
In accordance with the Individual Practices of the undersigned, plaintiff notified the defendant by letter on December 19, 2022, that it was obliged to file within three days a letter explaining the need to seal or redact the portions of the defendant’s deposition that was filed as part of an exhibit to the Proposed Case Management Plan. Defendant did not do so and has made no effort to justify the continued sealing of his deposition.
Carroll broke her decades-long silence in 2019 when she filed a lawsuit against then-President Trump for defamation in regard to an alleged sexual assault that occurred in the 1990s when the advice columnnist was an employee at Bergdorf Goodman.
During explicit testimony, Carroll detailed the assault, recounting how the then-120-pound young woman was up against a man she says was at least 100 pounds heavier.
“At this point, I realized it was serious,” Carroll said. “I understood that this is – this is a battle, and he pulled down my tights,” according to Law & Crime.
The defendant’s attorney, Michael Madaio, responded with a letter placing responsibility on Carroll.
“We had understood the December 20, 2022 order to place the burden on plaintiff to explain why unsealing of the confidential deposition transcript was necessary,” Madaio wrote.
Justice for E. Jean has been a long time coming.
After being publicly criticized by the then-President of the United States, Carroll is moving forward in her efforts to hold Trump accountable for his actions years ago – and his dismissive attitude and defamatory statements after.
A judge is currently deciding whether to dismiss Carroll’s most recent lawsuit.
Original reporting by Adam Klasfeld at Law & Crime.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
