New York, USA, Dec 13 (EFE).- A New York appeals court on Wednesday denied that former United States President Donald Trump (2017-2021) is protected by presidential immunity in the defamation lawsuit filed against him by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll’s lawsuit alleges that Trump defamed her by claiming that she fabricated that he had sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s.
On Wednesday, the court found that Trump lost the opportunity to invoke presidential immunity by not invoking it when Carroll filed the lawsuit against him in 2019.
It wasn’t until 2023 that the former president’s legal team attempted to invoke the doctrine, which states that presidents are immune from civil lawsuits while performing their duties.
“We hold that presidential immunity is waivable and that defendant has waived this defense,” the ruling said.
Carroll first filed the libel suit in November 2019, the panel said, while Trump filed his response in January 2020 and he didn’t raise the issue of presidential immunity until January 2023.
Allowing the defense now would unduly prejudice Carroll, the justices said.
Wednesday’s ruling clears the way for the trial to proceed as scheduled in January. Trump’s lawyers have already said they will seek a Supreme Court ruling on the case.
It is the third time this month that the judiciary has ruled against Trump in his efforts to invoke presidential immunity to dismiss the many civil and criminal cases he faces.
On Monday, the special counsel investigating the former president’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election asked the Supreme Court to rule on his presidential immunity “as soon as possible” to prevent his lawyers from delaying the case.
Carroll won a civil suit against Trump for sexual assault earlier this year. The jury ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages for sexually assaulting her years ago and later defaming her when he publicly denounced the facts.EFE jdg/fjo/mcd/ics
