Judge orders anonymous jury in E. Jean Carroll v. Trump case

For the third time, former President Donald Trump’s speech on Friday is being taken into account in a lawsuit against him.

A federal judge in New York said that the upcoming civil defamation trial involving Trump and E.J. Jane Carroll will be heard by an anonymous jury, citing Trump’s “repeated public statements” about the case and the court.

As part of Judge Louis A. Kaplan, the jurors’ names will not be released, they will be kept together during breaks and a member of the U.S. Marshals Service will be designated who “will take the junior jurors to, or provide them with, lunch as a group throughout the trial,” and they will be transported together or in groups to an undisclosed location. Before they can return home.

The defamation trial is scheduled to begin in January.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 over comments he made shortly after Carroll publicly accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s.

The former president said Carroll was “not my type” and suggested she had fabricated her accusations for ulterior motives, including to boost sales of her then-to-be-released book, in statements following the allegations.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The judge in the case has already determined that Trump’s statements were defamatory, so the January trial will determine damages only. Carroll is seeking $10 million.

Carroll prevailed in a second lawsuit in May over alleged defamation and battery, and was awarded $5 million in damages. Trump is also appealing the case.

Kaplan’s order came on the same day the judge in the New York civil fraud trial expanded a gag order and the judge in the federal election tampering case temporarily stayed her decision pending an appeal.