A federal judge in New York scheduled writer E. Jean Carroll’s remaining defamation lawsuit against former president Donald Trump for trial in January, adding onto the long list of legal perils the 2024 candidate is facing in the election year.
The judge wrote in a brief order that unless the case has been “entirely disposed of” by then, the trial will begin on Jan. 15, 2024.
In May, a Manhattan jury found the former president liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and awarded her a total of about $5 million in damages — $2 million in damages for her civil battery claim and nearly $3 million for successfully proving her defamation claim against the former president.
The case scheduled for next year is a separate, earlier defamation suit against Trump dating back to 2019. Carroll filed this first lawsuit for the comments then-President Trump made when she first publicly accused him of the assault.
But the Carroll defamation suit is just a speck in a long list of legal troubles and lawsuits, many serious, that Trump is facing heading into the election.
Last week, of course, a federal grand jury indicted Trump for his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in connection with the Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts related to mishandling of classified documents, obstructing justice and making false statements, becoming the first ever former U.S. president to be criminally charged by the government.
The special counsel is also conducting a separate inquiry into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. No charges have been filed in this case, but it appears to be continuing to move forward.
Smith is not the only one looking into him.
In April, Trump was charged with 34 felony counts in connection with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into the hush money Trump allegedly paid porn actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts in that New York case.
Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit in September against Trump, three of his adult children and his company, alleging they engaged in a decadelong scheme to inflate the value of their assets and company by billions of dollars.
And in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has also been investigating Trump and his allies’ efforts to subvert that state’s 2020 presidential election results. No charges have been filed in this case either. Willis had suggested that any indictment would come later in 2023.
