Former President Donald Trump renewed his motion for a mistrial of the defamation case brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll after she acknowledged deleting some emails.
Trump’s attorney Alina Habba asked for a mistrial earlier this week in the middle of cross-examination of Carroll when Carroll testified that she had deleted some emails containing threats to her safety. It was promptly rejected by the judge.
In a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Friday, Habba reiterated the request and said without the records there is no way to prove when the threats occurred. Trump has argued that Carroll immediately began receiving negative messages after an excerpt of Carroll’s book containing the assault allegations was published on New York magazine’s website – hours before Trump issued his first statement. His attorneys argued Trump shouldn’t be held responsible for what other people did.
Habba said if the judge does not grant her request for a mistrial, he should not allow Carroll to seek damages based on death threats.
“Plaintiff’s entire claim for emotional harm is undermined because it would show that Plaintiff was receiving death threats before President Trump ever spoke about her,” Habba wrote.
Habba is also requesting the judge instruct the jury that since Carroll deleted emails they should “presume that the electronic mail messages were unfavorable” and therefore not supportive to Carroll’s claims.
The trial to determine decide how much money in damages Trump owes Carroll over 2019 defamatory statements about her sexual assault allegations will continue on Monday.