A federal judge on Wednesday denied former President Trump’s motion to pause the proceedings of a defamation suit against him from a woman who has accused him of rape, ordering him to sit for a deposition next week, The Guardian reports.
The lawsuit was brought by E Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, who says Trump raped her in an upscale Manhattan department store’s dressing room. Trump has denied it.
Trump, who accused Carroll of lying and made remarks criticizing her appearance, has been pushing for the United States to be substituted in her lawsuit against him because the comments Trump made criticizing her happened while he was president.
Trump requested that proceedings be paused while the D.C. Court of Appeals weighs whether Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he criticized Carroll. But US district judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump has not demonstrated a likelihood to succeed on the merits of his argument, writing that Trump’s argument did not meet the legal threshold required for a stay to be issued.
Trump had argued that he should have immunity from the suit under the Westfall Act, which protects government employees from civil lawsuits if they are acting in their capacity as government officials.
But Kaplan denied his claim of immunity, saying that Trump appears to be attempting to delay the case as much as possible, and 20 months have already passed from when Kaplan initially denied Trump’s motion to substitute the United States for him in the lawsuit.
Trump’s deposition is now scheduled for 19 October.
