President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to dodge the $5.8 million payment a New York court ruled he owes E. Jean Carroll was swiftly slapped down Friday as “yet another play for time,” court records show.
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Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who represented Carroll in her sex abuse case against Trump before his return to office, filed a swift rebuttal to Trump’s demand for an extension, New York federal show.
“Defendant’s assertion that he cannot respond to Plaintiff’s Motion on the timeline ordered by the Court appears to be little more than yet another play for time,” wrote Kaplan.
“We can only assume that Defendant is seeking, through the instant motion, to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying Plaintiff.”
Carroll’s attorney was responding to the motion Trump filed the same day requesting Judge Lewis Kaplan grant him more time so his new attorney could get caught up on the case.
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Roger Parloff, the Lawfare senior editor who shared the filing online Saturday morning, identified the new attorney as Josh Halpern and noted a perceived flaw in Trump’s argument.
“Trump’s known for 5 [months] that his lede [attorney] was leaving,” wrote Parloff on X. “[He] has co-counsel who’s been on case since day one.”
These motions arrived days after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s appeal of the case.
A jury found Trump liable in 2023 for sexually abusing Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. They also found he defamed her when he denied it. The verdict carried $5 million in damages.
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