So there's a new development ahead of Donald Trump's civil
trial for defamation against E Jean Carroll.
A lawyer for Carroll now wants the judge in the
case to prevent Trump from turning the trial into a
circus.
According to the Washington Post quote,
Carroll's attorney on Friday asked the federal judge to give
Trump strict warnings about what grounds he must avoid if
he chooses to testify
at a trial next week to determine what damages,
if any, are owed for defamation claims.
The letter to Judge Kaplan seeking firm restrictions cited Trump's
hijacking of summations on Thursday in another lawsuit,
a
$370 million civil case brought by the New York attorney
General.
Trump's is set to attend the first day of the
trial on Tuesday.
Now, you'll remember a jury already found Trump liable for
sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll last year.
Back with us is is our man,
conservative attorney George Conway. He's the man.
So, George, I I think this moment right now for
Trump again is,
is is crystallizing in a way in which,
yeah, the, the judges around around all these cases are
going,
you know what, we got to start clamping down here.
How do you think that actually plays out?
Oh, I think, I mean,
what the judge did here was he's basically saying you
can't fool around.
I mean the problem he has in this case is
for for procedural reasons. There were two separate cases.
One was the case that tried
his defamation he engaged in
against EG and Carroll after he was president.
This is the one. This is the first case that
was brought that got held up because he claimed he
claimed that the federal law prevented the lawsuit and then
he then he later claimed that he had he was
immune from it because he
he was he was president.
And the first trial where he had the opportunity to
testify but did not was where Jean Carroll presented
her story and the story of the of the women
who she told
just like within a day or two after the rape.
And then you know they the jury found and and
Trump refused to show up to come to to rebut
that she was raped that day.
And so he's precluded there's a doctrine called collateral estoppel
in the law that if you lose an issue once
with to a party you can't
bring it up again. And so basically
Jean Carroll's lawyers are saying
they made a motion to exclude all sorts of things
that he want that he might do to try to
re litigate it and also
to make sure that Trump doesn't pull the kind of
crap that he pulled the other day in court in
across the street.
The New Republic has reporting that speaks just to that.
And so they write that Kaplan issued an order Tuesday
barring Trump and his lawyers from discussing
Carol's choice of lawyer who might be paying her legal
fees.
They can't make comments concerning her past romantic relationships,
sexual disposition, and he can't claim that he didn't sexually
abuse her.
But
there's something that they can't claim,
apparently. Apparently, at least he has a circle here in
these notes.
They could talk about you,
George Conway, you were entered into.
This does not foreclose Mr.
Trump From a listening testimony that the idea of suing
Mr.
Trump crystallized in Miss Carroll's mind as a result of
a conversation at a party with George Conway.
That would be you. That's me.
A Republican lawyer. Actually, I
there's no longer a Republican member of the public party
by that point who quote,
does not like Mr. Trump.
close quote. I think that's I don't like his criminality.
That's, I mean, it's not personal.
And Mr. Conway then introduced her to a lawyer,
which I did the inestimably amazing
Robbie Kaplan, who won the case for.
So we'll win it again.
So the argument that he's trying to make in that
footnote beyond he doesn't like me
is that this is somehow politically which is which is
which is not what is being litigated here.
No, the the question is no,
he lost. We we are now talking just about damages.
And it is so striking to me then all these
efforts to hold Donald Trump accountable.
The individual who's been most successful is a septuagenarian who
is coming at this at a great personal cost,
great personal pain. And she and her attorney,
Robbie Kaplan, have been the most successful.
It ties to me to something an exchange that our
colleague Lisa Rubin flagged for us that happened on on
Friday in the in the civil fraud trial,
which is you, you had the judge sort of asked
this last minute question which was how would you compare
what Donald Trump did to what Bernie Madoff did and
the prosecutor said a number of things were less people
who were impacted.
But we're talking about a highly regulated industry.
And in both of these civil cases,
I think what you're you're hearing the judges work through
is a little bit of of norm setting of saying
whatever we do in this case applies to other real
estate folks. Whatever we do in this Eugene Carroll case
applies to other survivors.
And so from that vantage point forget about just accountability
for Donald Trump himself.
You were talking about setting a a justice standard for
anyone who has seeking choice And that's absolutely,
I mean that's the tension,
that's the reason why you see this tension and and
it's gone back
decades really and certainly went back to his presidency between
Donald Trump
and the law and the rules.
Donald Trump doesn't think rules and laws apply to him.
Our court system begs to differ.
And that's why we're seeing this,
essentially this Titanic multiple venue clash between Donald Trump and
the rule of law.
And it it really, you know,
I mean, we can I I like to make fun
of Trump for his silliness.
I mean, this is all about,
you know, the he had his lawyers keep talking about
me in the first trial because he's just,
it was his obsession. And his lawyers end up reflecting
his obsessions
and he thinks everything is about him and about how
he's persecuted.
But the fact of the matter is,
I mean, and that's funny,
but it's a very serious thing about why he should
never become president again.
He wants to destroy the legal system.
He wants to destroy the rule of law because he
doesn't like it and it he doesn't want it to
apply to him.
He only wants it to apply to people he can
seek vengeance against.
And he even talks about that.
It's yes, he does. George Conway,
You better than a cup of coffee on a Saturday
morning,
baby. Well, I got to go back to sleep.