Donald Trump asks for delay in defamation trial over presidential immunity appeal

Dec. 22 (UPI) — After a federal judge last week rejected his claims of presidential immunity, former President Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court to push back the start of a defamation trial in a lawsuit brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll in order to consider his legal options, including taking the case to the Supreme Court.

Trump’s counsel filed the motion Thursday, requesting the Jan. 16 start date of the trial be pushed back 90 days.

“The requested stays are necessary and appropriate to give President Trump an opportunity to fully litigate his entitlement to president an immunity defense in the underlying proceedings, including pursuing the appeal in the supreme court if necessary,” the filing states, arguing that without a final decision on his immunity defense it would be the “quintessential form of prejudice.”

“In addition, the failure to impose a stay would also violate President Trump’s constitutional rights.”

In 2019, Carroll publicly accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, and brought the defamation lawsuit against the then-president in November of that year over his comments claiming that he had “never met” her and she had made up the crime to sell books.

Nearly two years to the day after leaving the White House, Trump’s legal team first argued that he was shielded from the lawsuit by presidential immunity — a claim that was rejected last week by an appeals court.

The Thursday filing comes as the Supreme Court is already considering Trump’s immunity in a second case. Special counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with four counts of interfering in the 2020 presidential election, against which the former president has argued he is protected by presidential immunity.

A lower court earlier ruled he does not enjoy presidential immunity in the case, which he has since appealed. In the process, the case was put on hold amid the litigation.

Smith earlier this month asked the high court to expedite Trump’s appeal.

In its filing Thursday, Trump’s counsel points to Smith’s recent filing, stating his defamation case should similarly be paused.

“That case is stayed pending resolution of the appeal, as this case should be, and the possibility that the Supreme Court may soon address President Trump’s immunity further supports the requested stays,” his counsel said.

“Since this appeal goes directly to President Trump’s immunity from suit altogether — a particular concern for prominent political figures such as President Trump — a decision applying such immunity after President Trump is forced to stand trial will render his presidential immunity defense moot,” the filing continues.

This is the second lawsuit Carroll has filed against the former president.

In May, a Manhattan jury found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in a New York City department store in the 1990s and subsequently defamed her after she made the crime public in 2019.

The jury ruled Trump must pay her $5 million in compensation, punitive damages for battery and defamation.