(NEW YORK) — Four people, including an unlicensed teenage driver, were seriously injured when their car crashed head-on into a school bus in New York state on Wednesday, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 2:13 p.m. local time in Westchester County, in the area of Mount Kisco.
The New Castle Police Department said officers responded to a “head-on accident” involving a Yorktown Central School District bus and a 2016 Honda Accord driven by an unlicensed 16-year-old from Bedford Hills.
The preliminary investigation found that the driver of the Honda Accord “lost control while rounding a curve, crossed into oncoming traffic and struck the bus head-on,” the New Castle Police Department said in a statement.
The driver and his three passengers were transported to Westchester Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police said, who did not specify how many people were on board.
Westchester Medical Center told ABC New York station WABC that nine people total were injured in the crash.
Aerial footage from the scene showed extensive damage to the front of the Honda Accord and the school bus.
Multiple police, fire and EMS agencies responded to the scene.
Residents were advised to avoid the area “due to a serious accident and investigation.”
The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office is assisting with an investigation into the crash, police said.
(CALIFORNIA) — Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will not have to report to prison this week after filing an appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Holmes, who was convicted of four counts of fraud in January 2022 and sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in January, had filed a motion earlier this month to remain out of prison pending appeal. However, Davila denied that motion and ordered Holmes begin serving her sentence on Thursday.
However, with her appeal filed Tuesday night, Holmes is challenging that ruling and due to a rule within the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, she will remain free on bail until the court makes a decision.
In the appeal, Holmes’ attorneys state that her conviction was the result of “prejudicial errors that warrant reversal and a new trial.” They argue that Davila’s denial of her release pending appeal “reflects numerous, inexplicable errors” including the courts referral to Holmes’ “patient fraud convictions,” of which Holmes was actually acquitted. They also argue that the court “used the wrong legal standard to assess whether key issues presented were likely to result in reversal.”
The government has 10 days to respond to the motion.
This appeal comes after an amicus brief was filed earlier this week by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a nonprofit bar association that works on behalf of criminal defense attorneys to ensure justice and due process for accused criminals. In their brief, filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Holmes, they argue that the court should reverse the decision and have a new trial due to what they say is a violation of The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Evidence by the government.
Their brief echos the arguments from Holmes’ appeal of her conviction, filed last week allowing the use of a former Theranos lab director as an expert witness. Holmes’ attorneys also argued that prosecution’s case “largely parroted the public narrative” and that they “lacked the data necessary to present a comprehensive, scientifically reliable expert analysis of Theranos’ technology.”
The government has until May 3 to respond to Holmes’ appeal of the conviction.
Meanwhile, Holmes’ former boyfriend and Theranos COO, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani reported to prison on April 20 after being denied his motion for release pending appeal by the Ninth Circuit, within three weeks. Balwani was originally ordered to report on March 16 but that was delayed due to the automatic stay from the Ninth Circuit. Balwani is set to serve 13 years at Terminal Island prison, a minimum-security facility in San Pedro, California.
Balwani was convicted in July 2022.
“This is a sad day for Mr. Balwani and for the cause of justice…A nearly 13-year sentence is truly draconian for a man whose sole focus was helping to create a great company without ever putting himself first. We will continue to fight for Mr. Balwani, and are optimistic that the Court of Appeals will correct this injustice when it hears the case,” Jeff Coopersmith, Balwani’s attorney, told ABC News in a statement when he reported to prison.
It is historically rare for an appeals court to allow a defendant to remain free pending their appeal because the likelihood of granting a new trial is rare, according to criminal defense attorney Caroline Polisi.
“The standard is that the government was lacking evidence to such a degree that it is likely that an appeals court would overturn the conviction, that just doesn’t happen very frequently,” Polisi told ABC News, adding, “Appeals courts are loath to second guess jury decisions.”
If Holmes’ appeal of Davila’s denial of her release pending appeal is rejected then she will likely report to the Federal Prison Camp at Bryan, Texas, which is a minimum security prison about 100 miles from where Holmes grew up.
(NEW YORK) — In the wake of its historic $787 million settlement with Dominion, Fox News will now turn over additional evidence as part of the ongoing $2.7 billion defamation case it is facing from Smartmatic, lawyers for both sides said in court on Wednesday.
Fox has agreed to turn over depositions, exhibits, and “all of the responding documents” related to a number of individuals at the company– including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, an attorney for Smartmatic, Edward Wipper, said in court.
“We agreed that the Fox defendants will produce the depositions, exhibits, and errata, and all of responsive documents,” Wipper said.
The resolution between the two parties came as attorneys for Smartmatic and Fox were back in court on Wednesday for a motion hearing in the case. The depositions and exhibits come from the Dominion case.
The parties agreed that Fox will turn over documents relating to four individuals: Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, News Corp co-Chairman Lachlan Murdoch, Fox’s chief legal counsel Viet D. Dinh and SVP of Fox Corp. Raj Shah.
Smartmatic, based in Florida, is suing Fox News, Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, former Fox host Lou Dobbs, and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani for $2.7 billion. The suit was filed in February 2021.
A day after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems, a Fox spokesperson said the network will be “ready to defend” itself against the Smartmatic suit.
“We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025,” the statement said. “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
The judge ordered Fox to turn over the documents by May 10.
“How’s one week?” the judge initially said to Fox.
“Can I have two?” Fox attorney Winn Allen responded.
(HOUSTON) — Parts of Texas and Florida are under threat of severe weather Wednesday, including potentially damaging, giant hail.
Severe storms, including a tornado threat, are forecast in Texas as a powerful storm system moves across the South Wednesday.
There is an enhanced threat for severe storms across north-central Texas as a powerful storm system moves across the South.
Potentially strong tornadoes, large destructive hail and damaging winds are expected across the region starting late Wednesday afternoon and lasting into the night.
“The potential for large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes will maximize south of I-20 this afternoon/evening,” through 8 p.m. CT, the National Weather Service said.
Isolated hail up to the size of quarters is possible throughout the evening, NWS said.
The severe weather comes after damaging storms were reported from Texas to Colorado on Tuesday, including damage near Lubbock, Texas.
Meanwhile, a separate storm system is expected to bring severe weather to a large swath of Florida on Wednesday, with the rare threat of huge hail possible.
A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued from Gainesville to Orlando to Miami through 9 p.m. ET. The main threat will be potentially baseball-sized hail, according to the NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center. Damaging winds are also expected.
The threat comes after hail was reported in parts of Florida on Tuesday.
(JACKSON, Miss.) — One of four detainees who escaped from a Mississippi jail over the weekend is believed to be dead after a shootout with law enforcement Wednesday, while the whereabouts of the other escapees is currently unknown, authorities said.
The suspected deceased detainee, identified as 22-year-old Dylan Arrington, was also believed to be tied to a fatal carjacking in Jackson on Monday — two days after the breach at the Raymond Detention Center in Hinds County, authorities said.
Law enforcement received reports of possible sightings of Arrington in Leake County Tuesday night, according to Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones. A search led them to a home in Carthage Wednesday morning, where an individual had barricaded himself inside and “somewhere along the way, the residence was engulfed in flames,” Jones told Jackson ABC affiliate WAPT.
The individual fired at law enforcement, striking a Leake County sheriff’s deputy, who is in stable condition, authorities said.
After an exchange of gunfire, the individual was determined to be dead inside the home, Jones said. Authorities are unable to positively identify him at this time but “we have a pretty strong feeling that it is [Arrington] inside of this residence, that he is deceased,” Jones said.
The remains will be sent to a crime lab for identification, the Leake County sheriff said.
The resident of the home had fled upon returning to the home Wednesday morning after reportedly seeing the individual believed to be Arrington inside, Jones said.
Arrington and three other men escaped through the roof of the Raymond Detention Center Saturday night and were discovered missing early Sunday following a headcount, according to Jones. The men were pretrial detainees, meaning they were held in the prison while awaiting trial.
Arrington, who was charged with auto theft and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, had been in the detention center since April 13, according to the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office.
The other escaped detainees were identified by the sheriff’s office as Casey Grayson, 24, who had been detained since mid-February and was charged with the sale of a controlled substance and grand larceny; Corey Harrison, 22, who was charged with receiving stolen property and had been detained since April 7; and Jerry Raynes, 51, who was charged with auto theft and business burglary. Raynes had been in the facility since January 2022 and has a history of escaping pretrial detention facilities, according to Jones.
A Hinds County public works pickup truck that was reported stolen amid the breach is believed to have been used in the escape, Jones said. The pickup truck was seen Saturday night crashing through a gate in Hinds County, before later being found abandoned Sunday afternoon in Spring Valley, Texas, the sheriff said.
On Monday, amid the search for the detainees, a man was killed during a carjacking that authorities suspect involved Arrington. The victim — identified as the Rev. Anthony Watts — was believed to have pulled over to help after someone crashed a motorcycle, before he was fatally shot, authorities said.
“My heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to the family of Rev. Watts,” Jones told WAPT. “As I understand, he was there to help an individual and obviously this individual was involved in criminal activity and behavior, and tragically his life was taken.”
The sheriff said his office is “aggressively” looking for the other escapees, and that most were believed to be in the central Mississippi area.
Last year, a federal judge seized control of the Raymond Detention Center due to allegations of mismanagement. A takeover of the jail was suspended following an appeal.
(BETHLEHAM, Pa.) — Four men have been arrested for allegedly yelling racial slurs at a Black student at Lehigh University before chasing him and following him into his dorm, where he was allegedly assaulted, a Pennsylvania district attorney announced Tuesday.
The suspects — all in their early 20s but none of them current or former Lehigh students — drove past the victim, who was walking home with two friends early Saturday, and shouted racial slurs, according to Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck.
Brandon John, 22, and Cameron Graf, 22, are facing charges of simple assault and harassment; Michael Rosta, 21, is facing charges of burglary and simple assault; and Nabil Jameel, 22, is facing a charge of simple assault.
The victim, whom Houck did not name to protect his privacy, ran after the car after being called slurs and banged on the trunk of the vehicle, He then reached into one of the car windows, but was only able to briefly touch one of the occupants before backing away from the vehicle and walking home, the victim told investigators.
“The victim told the officers the vehicle then turned around and parked, and a group of males got out of the car and chased him and his two friends. The victim stated the group of males surrounded them just south of Packer Avenue and one of the males struck the victim before he was able to get away and run back to his residence hall on campus,” Houck said in a release.
Once in the dorm, the victim said he went to see a friend before going into one of the bathrooms. When he exited, the men, who had been let into the dorm, were waiting for him and began attacking him, according to Houck.
The victim got away and hid in a friend’s room inside the dorm, authorities said.
The witness who let the men into the building told police one of the suspects was armed with a handgun, Houck said.
Police used security camera footage to see the incident and were able to identify the vehicle and identify its driver as John. He was then interviewed by police and admitted to being involved in an altercation with victim and identified the others involved in the attack, according to Houck.
The other three men admitted they were involved in the incident, according to Houck.
“Northampton County has zero tolerance for this type of lawless behavior, and the defendants will absolutely face the consequences for their senseless actions. Students have a right to feel safe when they are on or around campus. I want to thank the Lehigh University Police for acting swiftly in their investigation to remove these individuals from our community,” Houck said.
The university thanked Lehigh police and the district attorney’s office for their handling of the “deplorable hate crime.”
“The news released today from the District Attorney contained additional details; the most concerning of these is that an assailant brandished a handgun during the pursuit and assault of our student. We support prosecution of this threat of violence and act of hate to the fullest extent of the law. We stand united in working together as a campus to eradicate hate and violence,” the university said in a statement.
(WASHINGTON) — The 73-year-old remains of an American veteran of the Korean War have been identified, the United States and South Korea revealed on Wednesday.
The joint announcement from President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol identified the remains as belonging to Cpl. Luther H. Story, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 1951 for his display of “conspicuous bravery during intense combat” near South Korea’s Pusan Perimeter in September 1950, according to the White House.
“The supreme sacrifice and heroism of Corporal Luther Story is illustrative of the freedom, security, and prosperity the South Korean people have today,” the White House said.
Story was among 652 soldiers whose remains were disinterred in 2021 for DNA, dental, and anthropological analysis, the statement said.
On Tuesday evening, Yoon, Biden and their wives visited the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. There they met Story’s niece, Judy Wade, and her spouse, Joseph Wade.
Biden will host Yoon at a state dinner Wednesday night, and the South Korean president is set to address Congress on Thursday.
South Korea, a key strategic ally in the Indo-Pacific, recently moved to increase joint security efforts with the U.S. as neighboring nations attempt to counter China’s heightened aggression in the region. The country has also bolstered its relationship with Japan by restoring its trade status, shoring up critical partnerships as China seemingly prepares to invade Taiwan.
(BOSTON) — Former Harvard Professor Charles Lieber — who was found guilty of concealing his affiliation with a Chinese recruitment program — was sentenced to time served in prison (two days) and two years of supervised release with six months of home arrest, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
He will also have to pay a fine of $50,000 and restitution to the Internal Revenue Service of $33,600.
In December 2021, Lieber was found guilty of concealing his affiliation with the Wuhan University of Technology and his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Program, a program designed by the Chinese government to recruit high-level scientists, and failing to report payments on his taxes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
A jury convicted the former chair of Harvard University’s chemistry and chemical biology department of two counts of making false statements to federal authorities, two counts of making and subscribing a false income tax return and two counts of failing to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts with the IRS, according to the Department of Justice.
While his relationship with Wuhan University of Technology and the Thousand Talents Program were not illegal, he was found to have repeatedly lied to the U.S. government about it.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Lieber to 90 days in prison, one year of supervised release (including 90 days of home confinement), a $150,000 fine and restitution of $33,600 to the IRS. Prosecutors said the recommendation took into consideration Lieber’s diagnosis of with follicular lymphoma — an incurable, slow-growing form of cancer — in approximately 2014. His immune system is considered compromised, according to court documents.
“Mr. Lieber lied to DCIS Special Agents about his ties to the Chinese government while conducting research for the DoD, and he eroded the trust the DoD has in its researchers to prioritize the United States and its service members over foreign governments, and over personal financial gain,” Patrick J. Hegarty, the special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office, said in a statement in December 2021.
Lieber was the principal investigator of Harvard University’s Lieber Research Group, receiving more than $15 million in federal research grants from 2008 to 2019, according to the Department of Justice.
He became a strategic scientist at the Wuhan University of Technology and later a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan from at least 2012 to 2015. The talents plan is designed to attract, recruit and cultivate high-level scientific talent in furtherance of China’s scientific development, economic prosperity and national security, according to the Department of Justice.
As part of a three-year contract, the Wuhan University of Technology paid Lieber a salary of up to $50,000 per month, living expenses of up to $150,000 and awarded him more than $1.5 million to establish a research lab at the Wuhan University of Technology, according to the DOJ.
In 2018 and 2019, Lieber lied to federal authorities about his involvement in the Thousand Talents Plan and his affiliation with the Wuhan University of Technology, according to the Department of Justice.
In tax years 2013 and 2014, Lieber earned income from the Wuhan University of Technology as part of the recruitment contracts, which he did not disclose on his federal income tax returns. After opening an account at a Chinese bank during a visit to Wuhan in 2012 with Wuhan University of Technology officials, Lieber received periodic transfers from 2013 to 2015 with portions of his salary into that account, according to the Department of Justice.
U.S. taxpayers are required to report the existence of any foreign bank account that holds more than $10,000 at any time during a given year by filing an FBAR with the IRS. Lieber failed to file FBARs for the years 2014 and 2015, according to the Department of Justice.
Lieber was indicted in June 2020 and was subsequently charged in a superseding indictment in July 2020.
For making false statements, Lieber could have faced up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000; for making and subscribing false income tax returns he could have faced a sentence of up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine; and for failing to file an FBAR he could have faced up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, according to the Department of Justice.
(NEW YORK) — Former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll, on the first day of testimony in her civil defamation and battery case against former President Donald Trump, told the jury that Trump had raped her.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room.
She added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” she testified Wednesday. “And when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. And I’m here to try and get my life back.”
Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard from the former general manager at the Bergdorf Goodman women’s store.
Cheryl Beal, who worked for the department store in the mid-1990s, testified regarding the store’s layout, including the sixth floor where lingerie, couture brands and designer sportswear were sold, and where Carroll said Trump raped her in a dressing room while few, if any, people were around.
“It wasn’t one of our busiest floors,” Beal said.
Before the jury entered the courtroom, Carroll’s attorney read aloud parts of two social media posts by Donald Trump that she said violated the judge’s orders.
On Truth Social Wednesday morning, Trump posted that Carroll’s legal team is being “financed by a big political donor that they said didn’t exist, only to get caught lying about that.”
He also posted regarding Carroll, “She said there was a dress, using the ol’ Monica Lewinsky ‘stuff,’ then she didn’t want to produce it.”
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said the posts violated the court’s orders against “comments about lawyers and one about DNA.”
“These are out-of-court comments obviously,” said defense attorney Joe Tacopina, but Judge Lewis Kaplan cut him off, saying, “…where for two years he refused to give a DNA sample, and now wants it in the case.”
“What you’re trying to do is to get away from a statement by your client, a public statement, that on the face of it seems entirely inappropriate,” Kaplan told Tacopina.
Tacopina said he would address the posts with Trump.
“I will speak to my client and ask him to refrain from any posts about this case,” Tacopina said.
Kaplan said he hoped the lawyer was successful.
“We’re getting into an area in which your client may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability, and I think you know what I mean,” Kaplan said.
It remains unclear if Trump will testify himself at any point. The judge demanded to know this week whether Trump will appear, telling the defense that it was time to “fish or cut bait.”
The trial is expected to last about five days.
During opening statements Tuesday, Carroll’s attorney told the jury that Trump “banged the door closed and lunged at” Carroll as she recounted what Carroll said happened in a dressing room of the department store.
“Ms. Carroll will tell you she was shocked,” Crowley said.
In 2019, when Carroll decided to write about the alleged encounter, Crowley said that “Donald Trump’s response was explosive.”
“Suddenly Ms. Carroll was all over the headlines. The most powerful person in the world … had branded her a liar.”
But Tacopina told the jury in his opening statement that Carroll’s defamation and battery claims are an “affront to justice,” accusing the writer of taking Trump to court “for money, for political reasons and for status.”
Tacopina told jurors that “you can hate Donald Trump” — but that the appropriate place to express those feelings is at the ballot box and not in a court of law.
Tacopina said Carroll “falsely alleged that he raped her,” and that’s why Trump publicly attacked her.
The nine-member jury of six men and three women is weighing Carroll’s defamation and battery claims and deciding potential monetary damages.
This week’s trial is taking place as Trump seeks the White House for a third time, while facing numerous legal challenges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and possible attempts to interfere in the Georgia’s 2020 vote. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday she would decide whether to file criminal charges against Trump or his allies this summer.
Carroll’s lawsuit is her second against Trump related to her rape allegation.
Carroll previously sued Trump in 2019 after the then-president denied her rape claim by telling The Hill that Carroll was “totally lying,” saying, “I’ll say it with great respect: No. 1, she’s not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” That defamation suit has been caught in a procedural back-and-forth over the question of whether Trump, as president, was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government when he made those remarks.
If Trump is determined to have been acting as a government employee, the U.S. government would substitute as the defendant in that suit — which means that case would go away, since the government cannot be sued for defamation.
(NEW YORK) — E. Jean Carroll, on the first day of testimony in her civil defamation and battery case against former President Donald Trump, told the jury that she first met Trump in 1987 — but she struggled to pinpoint the year that she alleges he raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room.
She added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations.
“When do you believe Donald Trump assaulted you?” her attorney, Mike Ferrara, asked Carroll during her testimony Wednesday.
“This question, the when, the when, the date, has been something I’ve constantly trying to pin down,” Carroll said.
At first she said she thought it was 1994 or 1995, but she said her friend Lisa Birnbach published an article about Trump for New York magazine in February 1996.
“Lisa never would have gone down to Mar-a-Lago … if she knew what Donald Trump had done to me,” Carroll said, leading her to believe the alleged attack occurred in 1996.
In her opening statement, Carroll attorney Shawn Crowley suggested the lack of specificity doesn’t matter.
“While Ms. Carroll doesn’t remember exactly when this happened, she remembers almost every detail of what happened, and her testimony alone will be enough for you to find Donald Trump liable in this case,” Crowley said.
The defense told the jury those details matter.
“She can’t tell you the date that she claims to have been raped. She can’t tell you the month that she claims to have been raped. She can’t tell you the season. She can’t even tell you the year that she claims to have been raped by Donald Trump,” defense attorney Joe Tacopina said during his opening statement.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” Carroll said at the start of her testimony. “And when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. And I’m here to try and get my life back.”
Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard from the former general manager at the Bergdorf Goodman women’s store.
Cheryl Beal, who worked for the department store in the mid-1990s, testified regarding the store’s layout, including the sixth floor where lingerie, couture brands and designer sportswear were sold, and where Carroll said Trump raped her in a dressing room while few, if any, people were around.
“It wasn’t one of our busiest floors,” Beal said.
Before the jury entered the courtroom, Carroll’s attorney read aloud parts of two social media posts by Trump that she said violated the judge’s orders.
On Truth Social Wednesday morning, Trump posted that Carroll’s legal team is being “financed by a big political donor that they said didn’t exist, only to get caught lying about that.”
He also posted regarding Carroll, “She said there was a dress, using the ol’ Monica Lewinsky ‘stuff,’ then she didn’t want to produce it.”
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said the posts violated the court’s orders against “comments about lawyers and one about DNA.”
“These are out-of-court comments obviously,” said defense attorney Joe Tacopina, but Judge Lewis Kaplan cut him off, saying, “…where for two years he refused to give a DNA sample, and now wants it in the case.”
“What you’re trying to do is to get away from a statement by your client, a public statement, that on the face of it seems entirely inappropriate,” Kaplan told Tacopina.
Tacopina said he would address the posts with Trump.
“I will speak to my client and ask him to refrain from any posts about this case,” Tacopina said.
Kaplan said he hoped the lawyer was successful.
“We’re getting into an area in which your client may or may not be tampering with a new source of potential liability, and I think you know what I mean,” Kaplan said.
It remains unclear if Trump will testify himself at any point. The judge demanded to know this week whether Trump will appear, telling the defense that it was time to “fish or cut bait.”
The trial is expected to last about five days. The nine-member jury of six men and three women is weighing Carroll’s defamation and battery claims and deciding potential monetary damages.
This week’s trial is taking place as Trump seeks the White House for a third time, while facing numerous legal challenges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and possible attempts to interfere in the Georgia’s 2020 vote. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday she would decide whether to file criminal charges against Trump or his allies this summer.
Carroll’s lawsuit is her second against Trump related to her rape allegation.
Carroll previously sued Trump in 2019 after the then-president denied her rape claim by telling The Hill that Carroll was “totally lying,” saying, “I’ll say it with great respect: No. 1, she’s not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” That defamation suit has been caught in a procedural back-and-forth over the question of whether Trump, as president, was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government when he made those remarks.
If Trump is determined to have been acting as a government employee, the U.S. government would substitute as the defendant in that suit — which means that case would go away, since the government cannot be sued for defamation.
