Donald Trump asks to skip part of his own trial to avoid traffic jams

A civil lawsuit has been filed against Donald Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/REUTERS

Donald Trump requested permission not to attend his upcoming Manhattan rape trial until he is required to testify to rid New Yorkers of traffic, his lawyer said.

A civil lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, who accuses the former president of assaulting her in a dressing room at a Fifth Avenue department store nearly 30 years ago, is due to go to trial next week in U.S. District Court in Lower Manhattan.

However.

Joe Takopina, Mr. Trump's attorney, wrote Wednesday to the judge overseeing the trial asking him to excuse his client's attendance at the week-long hearing «unless and until he is summoned either party to testify.»

< p>If the former president does not appear in court, Mr. Takopina said he would ask Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to instruct the jury that while neither party is authorized to attend the civil trial, Mr. Trump's absence «deliberately avoids the logistical burden that his presence as a former president will bring to court and New York.»

Mr Takopina pointed to Mr. Trump's indictment hearing in nearby Manhattan State Supreme Court last month, when Franklin D. Roosevelt Street was closed for a significant period of time to allow the former president to get to the courthouse and through the streets within three blocks. the radius was covered while it was there.

A tactical plan needs to be developed

The lawyer said that in order for Trump to appear in court, his movements must be coordinated daily by a group of secret services several hours before the meeting. A tactical plan needs to be developed that will mean that «floors of the courthouse must be closed, elevators disabled, courthouse personnel must be restricted in their offices, and members of the public restricted in access.»

Roberta Kaplan, Ms. Carroll's attorney, criticized Mr. Trump's legal team in response to a request in a letter late Wednesday night.

She wrote to the judge: «The idea that Mr. Trump would not to appear as some kind of benevolence to the city of New York — and that the jury should be instructed to do so — requires the credulity of the gullible.»

If Mr. Trump does not appear, she said, «the jury may draw any conclusions of his choice, and Mr. Trump is not entitled to judicial approval of his (contrived) excuses.”

Ms. Kaplan argued that the court was «fully prepared to handle any logistical burden» and said his stance on the matter was particularly «difficult to accept in light of his own recent activities,» which included attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship event and speaking at annual meeting of the National Rifle Association. association.

He even organized the campaign in New Hampshire on April 27, “in other words, in the midst of the lawsuit in this case,” she added.

“ If Mr. If Trump can find a way to attend wrestling championships, political conventions, civic testimony, and campaign events, then he can certainly overcome the logistics of attending his own federal court,” she said.

Mr. Trump already had a request for a one-month adjournment, which Judge Kaplan denied this week on the grounds of «an influx of biased media coverage» of his indictment at the end of March.