A Bombshell Discovery Could Save Trump $83.3 Million in the E. Jean Carroll Case

PJ Media ^ | 01/30/2024 | Matt Margolis

[SeekAndFind]

Last week, a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll a ridiculous $83.3 million in damages for alleged defamation by Donald Trump after she made dubious allegations that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

Trump’s antics in the courtroom have been widely reported, but so have the judge’s rather bizarre orders that essentially hamstrung Trump and his defense, forbidding him to present exculpatory evidence or defend himself.

There may be a reason why Trump wasn’t given the opportunity to adequately defend himself. It appears that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who presided over the case, may have a major conflict of interest.

The New York Post has learned that Kaplan was once a “mentor” to Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. The two aren’t related, but they worked together in the early 1990s at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison in Midtown.

In a letter filed on Monday, Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, demanded answers:

If Your Honor truly worked with Ms. Kaplan in any capacity—especially if there was a mentor/mentee relationship—that fact should have been disclosed before any case involving these parties was permitted to proceed forward. This issue is particularly concerning since Plaintiff’s other lead counsel, Shawn Crowley, served as Your Honor’s law clerk, and we were previously advised that Your Honor co-officiated her wedding.  28 U.S.C. Section 455(a) states that “[a]ny… judge … of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” 

Habba also noted that Canon 3 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges makes it clear that a judge must "disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including" when the judge served as "a lawyer with whom the judge previously practiced law served."

[Midwesterner53]

Trump does not get the benefit of the law. His trials would make Stalin blush.

[simpson96]

“Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who presided over the case, may have a major conflict of interest.”

But of course, he does! How else could the Left railroad Trump? Being underhanded was the only way.

[BipolarBob]

The (biased) judge did not allow Trump to put up a defense.

[telescope115]

One of the commenters states that she is an actual rape victim, and that rape victims don’t act this way.

[aimhigh]

Democrats don’t care if these cases get overturned. They will be advertising that Trump was found guilty, while the sheep lay unaware of the appeals.

[Missouri gal]

Judge Kaplan’s conduct during the trial was also abysmal. He should lose his post for misinforming the jury, for threatening the defense and for many other things.

[for-q-clinton]

Nope...His lawyer already cancelled this approach when the other lawyer responded that it’s nonsense.

[Elsie]

Or has LOTS of ‘toys’ and a vivid imagination.