Ahead of Donald Trump’s defamation trial brought by E. Jean Carroll, a scheduled Trump rally is raising questions online as the former president requested to postpone his trial for the funeral of his mother-in-law.
Trump, the current frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, faces a second defamation trial by Carroll, a former Elle columnist, and is scheduled to begin on January 16 as it will decide how much Trump owes in damages. A civil trial that concluded last May found that Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. The accusation of defamation against Trump follows the former president’s denial that he sexually assaulted her at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s in New York City. In 2019, the former president said Carroll was “not my type,” suggesting she made up the allegation.
On Friday, lawyers for Trump requested that Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the trial, postpone the trial to the following week because of the sudden death of Trump’s mother-in-law Amalija Knavs, as the former president will be traveling on Wednesday to attend the funeral scheduled for Thursday.
Although Trump is not required to be at the trial, the former president had expressed interest in attending. Kaplan denied the request, however, and said that while the court “offers its condolences” to the Trump family, the trial would continue as scheduled.
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In response, Trump took to his Truth Social account to slam Kaplan’s decision and wrote on Saturday, “Lewis Kaplan, the terrible, biased, irrationally angry Clinton-appointed Judge in the Bergdorf’s Hoax, refused to postpone the sham trial next week, even in light of the funeral of my beloved Mother-in-law.”
However, a letter sent by lawyers for Carroll on Saturday pointed out that a Trump campaign event in New Hampshire is also scheduled to take place the same day the former president said he would be traveling to be with his family.
“There was no mention made of any scheduling conflict in connection with Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign,” lawyers for Carroll wrote.
According to Trump’s campaign website, the event is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the same day he said he would be traveling for his mother-in-law’s funeral.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment.
Although it’s unclear if he still plans to attend the rally, some have taken to X, formerly Twitter, to criticize Trump’s request.
MSNBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin wrote, “There’s really nothing like telling a federal judge that you have to travel for your mother-in-law’s funeral and therefore need a postponement, only to announce a campaign event in New Hampshire less than 24 hours later.”
Conservative lawyer George Conway, a Trump critic, took aim at Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, and wrote, “Can’t imagine how anyone could Habba so little shame that they could sign this letter.”
Habba, who is representing Trump in the case, signed a letter requesting the defamation trial be postponed.
X user Grandpa Snarky wrote, “Trump’s accusing Judge Kaplan of being ‘crazed and Trump-hating’ for not postponing the E. Jean Carroll trial for a funeral…on the same day he scheduled a NH campaign rally. It’s like calling the referee blind when you’re the one fumbling the ball.”
Filmmaker and X user Jeremy Newberger posted, “Melania’s Mom’s Funeral is about as important to Trump as a bathroom scale.”
While X user Ashleigh London commented, “Of course Trump doesn’t really care about the death of a loved one.. as we saw with his brother dying he went golfing.. he was using it as an excuse to postpone court just like he did when Ivana died.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.