Former president Donald Trump must appear at a deposition in the defamation lawsuit filed against him by author E. Jean Carroll, a judge ruled Wednesday. Carroll alleges Trump raped her in a department store changing room, then defamed her by saying she was making it up to sell books. The judge, Lewis Kaplan, said Trump's efforts to delay the case are "inexcusable" and have been ongoing for years.
"The defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiff's attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong," Kaplan wrote.
The judge said that Carroll would face "substantial injury" from further delay, citing the lengthy appeal process, which has already taken 20 months and is still not over, and the ages of Carroll and Trump, who are both in their 70s. Carroll's deposition is scheduled for this Friday.
Kaplan noted Trump's efforts to delay the lawsuit and said his production of "virtually" no documents was "inexcusable."
Though Trump's legendary legal impunity means negative outcomes arrive slowly if ever at his door, adversaries often face immediate consequences. Elle magazine, owned by Hearst Communications, fired Carroll after she made the allegation.
Trump denied the allegations from the outset, and now has a new enemy: the judge himself.
Trump angrily lashed out Wednesday, calling the nation's legal system a "broken disgrace" after a judge ruled he must answer questions under oath. … Then he grumbled: "Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyer's phony attacks on me. This can only happen to 'Trump'!"
Trump also repeated the implication that he's raped other women, just not Carroll:
"And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!
