Federal appeals court denies Trump’s effort to delay E. Jean Carroll civil trial

CNN —

A federal appeals court denied Donald Trump’s effort to delay his defamation trial set to begin in two weeks.

In a brief court order issued late last week, a three-member panel of judges for the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, denied Trump’s motion without elaborating.

Trump asked the appeals court to delay the trial after he lost an earlier attempt to use presidential immunity as a defense to the defamation allegations. He said he needed additional time to consider his options, including potentially seeking review by the US Supreme Court. He could still do that, but he would need to move quickly since the defamation trial is set to begin on January 16.

A spokeswoman for Trump could not immediately be reached.

Last month, the Second Circuit ruled that Trump could not use presidential immunity to defend against the defamation allegation brought by E. Jean Carroll because he waited too long to say he wanted to use it, affirming a decision by the trial court judge.

Carroll sued Trump twice, initially for defamation in 2019 when Trump, as president, denied her allegation that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She filed a second lawsuit in 2022 under the Adult Survivors Act, which reopened the window to bring civil sexual assault lawsuits, for the assault and for statements he made that year, well after he left office. The trial on the 2019 lawsuit has been held up in legal challenges.

Last year, a jury found Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her in his 2022 statements. That jury awarded Carroll $5 million. Trump is appealing the verdict.

At the trial next month, the jury will be asked to decide how much in damages Trump must pay Carroll for his 2019