Legal Missteps Mount for Trump as Second Carroll Defamation Case Intensifies
Donald Trump’s legal team has faced challenges in the defamation cases brought against him by E. Jean Carroll. Recently, the team attempted to replace a rebuttal expert, Robert Fisher, who had been previously rejected by Judge Lewis Kaplan for both Carroll I and II cases. Fisher was deemed unsuitable after he admitted during depositions that he had not thoroughly read the reports of Carroll’s expert, Dr. Ashlee Humphreys, and instead relied on Google searches and a few articles. Fisher also expressed skepticism about academic methodologies in favor of his own “educated feel.”
Carroll’s initial lawsuit, Carroll I, filed in New York state court, accused Trump of defamation after he denied her allegations of sexual assault from the mid-90s and claimed she was lying as part of a Democratic plot. This case is set for trial in January 2024. Meanwhile, Carroll II emerged from Trump’s repeated defamatory statements post-presidency, which formed the basis of the second lawsuit filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act. This act allows for a one-year amnesty for claims otherwise time-barred. Carroll II resulted in a $5 million jury verdict against Trump earlier this year.
