BREAKING NEWS Trump comes out fighting: Donald's lawyers reveal how they plan to challenge $83.3 MILLION jury verdict in E Jean Carroll case - as they discover 'startling link between the writer and the judge'

Daily Mail ^ | 1/27/24 | Will Potter

[Libloather]

Donald Trump's lawyers intend to appeal his staggering $83.3 million defamation lawsuit loss to E. Jean Carroll by arguing there was an 'insane' conflict of interest at the heart of the case.

The former president's legal team are set to appeal on the grounds there was a conflict of interest between Carroll's lawyer and the judge presiding over her case.

Trump's firebrand attorney Alina Habba claimed she was unaware that Judge Lewis Kaplan and Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan - who are not related - worked together in the early 1990s, with the judge serving as her 'mentor', reports the New York Post.

'It was never disclosed. It’s insane and so incestuous,' Habba said, arguing their alleged close relationship was never disclosed and she only became aware of it after the conclusion of the case.

Habba continued: 'This is news to us. We are going to include this in our appeal and take appropriate measures. The fact it wasn't disclosed is an ethics violation.'

The allegations of a conflict of interest were bolstered by an anonymous former Weiss partner, who reportedly claimed Roberta Kaplan - a junior associate - made an extra effort to stand out to the managing partners.

'Lew was like her mentor,' they claimed.

Before becoming a founding partner at law firm Kaplan, Keckler & Fink in 2016, Roberta Kaplan worked alongside the judge at Paul, Weiss Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison in Manhattan.

She began at the firm in 1992, according to her LinkedIn, where Judge Kaplan was a partner until he was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

In a statement to the Post, representative for Roberta Kaplan, Zak Sawyer, denied there was any conflict of interest and said the two barely knew each other.

[stylin19a]

Thanx for that...I have those saved from another GP article.

This one kills me. Law created specifically to get Pres. Trump

Democrats created a law (The Adult Survivors Act in 2022) to enable her lawsuit to proceed

That opened up the statute of limitations that allowed her to file.

[ridesthemiles]

BUT-—THE JUDGE CONTROLLED THE TRIAL