Judge’s ruling could trigger Trump deposition in suit over rape claim
Former President Donald Trump will have to sit for a deposition next week in a lawsuit filed by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s.
TroibNews 
A federal judge issued a ruling Wednesday that could lead to former President Donald Trump testifying as soon as next week in a lawsuit stemming from his response to a New York writer’s claim that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan turned down Trump’s request to halt fact-finding in the libel case, brought three years ago by E. Jean Carroll after Trump repeatedly denied her rape allegations and crudely described her as “not my type.”
Trump’s lawyers asked for the stay after a federal appeals court ruling last month that referred a key legal question in the case to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
However, Kaplan said in his decision that there was no reason to delay Trump’s deposition, currently scheduled for Oct. 19.
“Mr. Trump has conducted extensive discovery of the plaintiff, yet produced virtually none himself,” the judge said. “Given his conduct so far in this case, Mr. Trump’s position regarding the burdens of discovery in this case is inexcusableThe defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiff’s attempt to gain a remedy from what allegedly was a serious wrong.”
Kaplan also rebuked Trump’s attorneys for calling Carroll’s stance on one issue in the case “asinine.”
“The Court will not tolerate by counsel such inappropriate language again,” the judge wrote.
A lawyer for Trump, Alina Habba, said the former president’s attorneys are prepared to show that Carroll’s claims are false.
“We look forward to establishing on the record that this case is, and always has been, entirely without merit,” Habba said in a statement.
Carroll’s lead attorney, Robbie Kaplan, welcomed the ruling and reiterated that her client is planning to file a second lawsuit against Trump next month that seeks damages for the alleged rape itself, not merely his denial of it. A new New York state law reinstating the ability to sue for alleged incidents of sexual abuse kicks in in late November.
“We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position not to stay discovery in this case,” Robbie Kaplan said in statement. “We look forward to filing our case under the Adult Survivors Act and moving forward to trial with all dispatch.”
