Donald Trump returns to court in New York in the midst of the primary race

A day after his landslide victory in the Iowa Republican caucus, former US President Donald Trump appeared in New York court on Tuesday where he began to be tried for defamation in a trial initiated by a writer who had already won another trial for sexual assault last year.

The former Republican president, who aspires to return to the White House for the November elections, announced last Thursday his intention to go to court to defend himself against the accusations of E. Jean Carroll, 80, a former magazine columnist elleThat asks for 10 million dollars for damages suffered in your professional reputation.

Trump arrived in a motorcade of black cars to the courthouse in southern Manhattan, which arose covered under a layer of snow, in an image that has become common in recent weeks. Another trial against him and two of his children for tax fraud concluded last Friday in another New York court.

According to the judicial press present in the room, the two protagonists did not exchange any glances.

The prosecution’s theses

The trial, which began with jury selection, centers on statements made by the Republican, now 77, in June 2019, after Carroll mentioned the rape allegations in a magazine article.

At that time then-President He assured that Carroll was “not his type” and that he had made up the whole story to “sell his new book”.

“I have never seen that woman in my life (…) I have no idea who she is”, Donald Trump repeated last week about the writer, whom he He called her a “liar” and an “idiot” after being sentenced to pay him, in another trial in May last year, more than $2 million for a sexual assault that occurred in 1996 and almost $3 million also for another defamation case in October 2022.

Trump has appealed the ruling. The trial was delayed due to procedural disputes.

The Republican, more than ever the favorite to be the Republican candidate in the November 4 presidential election, has described the several judicial fronts he faces as a “witch hunt” designed to thwart his presidential aspirations.

With this Tuesday the tycoon did it at least six pending hearings in civil and criminal courtsbut so far they do not appear to have affected his political career.

“They don’t come for me, they come against you. I’m simply in the middle of the street,” he writes in capital letters on his social media to his followers.

This process could be resurrected the question about Trump’s behavior with womenas he has been accused of sexual assault multiple times, although he has never been criminally convicted.

Justice and campaign

In a sign of the tensions surrounding the retrial, Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that the identities of the jurors be kept secret.

Likewise, in an attempt to prevent the hearing from becoming a political demonstration, The judge made it clear that “the only thing at stake in the trial is the harm caused to Ms Carroll by the statements” which he considers “defamatory”, “false” and “harmful”.

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, wrote to the judge last Friday to warn him of the risk that the presence of the republican generates “chaos” and transforms the view into a “circus”.

According to a court filing, Trump requested a postponement of the trial so he could attend the funeral of his mother-in-law, Amalija Knavs, on Thursday in Florida.

But the judge rejected the request, reminding him that on Wednesday evening he intended to participate in a rally in New Hampshire, in the second round of the primaries in the desire to return to the White House from which the Democrat Joe Biden evicted him almost ago. four years.

Source: AFP