Lawyers for former President Donald Trump tell a federal appeals court Monday that he was not liable for defamatory comments made about writer E. Jean Carroll because he was president when he first said them. Following last week’s guilty plea in Georgia by lawyer Sidney Powell, Trump seeks to clarify their relationship. He is also preparing to confront his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen in a New York courtroom.
E. Jean Carroll defamation
Trump lawyers say ‘presidential immunity’ shields him from having to pay Carroll for defamation
Key players: writer E. Jean Carroll, Judge Lewis Kaplan, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
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Lawyers for Trump on Monday presented their arguments that Trump should not be held liable for defamatory comments made about writer E. Jean Carroll because he was president at the time, ABC News reported.
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“Defendant-Appellee’s conduct is not properly the subject of a civil damages claim since his conduct is shielded by presidential immunity. The District Court’s rejection of this defense was clearly made in error,” Trump’s attorneys wrote prior to oral arguments Monday.
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Trump is appealing a June ruling by Kaplan that rejected the presidential immunity claims, Reuters reported. In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump had sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store changing room and later defamed her.
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The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages, but Trump then continued to make more defamatory remarks about her during a CNN Town Hall following the verdict. The second part of her lawsuit seeks an additional $10 million in damages, partly stemming from Trump’s subsequent comments.
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In July 2020, Carroll’s lawyers argued, Trump waived his presidential immunity defense when his lawyers said Carroll was entitled to pursue her defamation lawsuit “when the President is no longer in office.”
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On Monday, two of the appeals court justices questioned Trump’s lawyers about why the former president had waited so long to raise presidential immunity claims, Reuters reported, given that the case had proceeded for so long.
Why it matters: Trump’s second defamation trial is scheduled to begin in January. If allowed to go forward, it will decide how much more money Trump will have to pay Carroll.
Georgia election interference
Following Sidney Powell plea deal, Trump says she ‘was not my attorney’
Key players: Pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, District Attorney Fani Willis, special counsel Jack Smith
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Just days after Powell pleaded guilty to charges stemming from her role in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, Trump sought to put distance between her and himself, NBC News reported.
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“Despite the Fake News reports to the contrary, and without even reaching out to ask the Trump Campaign, MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS,” Trump wrote in a post on Sunday on Truth Social, his social media network.
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As part of her plea deal, which will spare her from serving prison time in the Georgia case, Powell has agreed to testify in the trials of the other 17 people charged, including Trump.
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Chesebro, who is credited with helping devise the alternate elector strategy to challenge the election results, has also accepted a plea deal and agreed to testify against other defendants.
Why it matters: Whether Trump hired Powell to represent him may ultimately be beside the point. She attended a White House meeting with the president and sued Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, claiming “massive election fraud.” Trump saw fit to promote a story about the lawsuit on his Twitter feed, Smith noted in his federal indictment of the former president.
New York financial fraud
Michael Cohen to testify Tuesday
Key players: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Judge Arthur Engoron, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
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Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, is expected to take the witness stand Tuesday and come face-to-face with his former boss, The Hill reported.
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Cohen is one of James’s star witnesses in the $250 million civil trial to determine the penalties Trump, his adult sons and their family business must pay after being found liable by Engoron for years of financial fraud.
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In an interview this month with CNN, Cohen said “everything that happened at the Trump Organization happened with the direct knowledge and at the direction of, and ultimately signed off by, Donald J. Trump.”
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Trump, who has attended much of the trial, told reporters last week that “Cohen didn’t have the guts” to appear.
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Cohen cited a “preexisting medical condition” as the reason he did not testify last week, adding that he was not afraid to testify as his former boss looked on.
Why it matters: Since serving jail time for tax evasion related to his duties when working for Trump, Cohen has become one of the former president’s fiercest critics. His testimony will be central in both the financial fraud trial as well as Bragg’s criminal case stemming from Trump’s alleged $130,00 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
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