Trump requests a new trial in E. Jean Carroll defamation case
Trump's attorneys argued that the jury’s compensatory and punitive awards are out of proportion and should be canceled.
Donald Trump’s attorneys filed a motion Tuesday for a new trial in writer E. Jean Carroll's defamation case and asked a judge to substantially reduce the judgment of $83.3 million against the former president.
In a federal court filing in New York, Trump attorneys Alina Habba and John Sauer wrote that a district court could grant a motion for a new trial because, they argued, relevant evidence had been excluded and the jury had been “erroneously instructed” about a key component of the case.
"This Court’s erroneous decision to dramatically limit the scope of President Trump’s testimony almost certainly influenced the jury’s verdict, and thus a new trial is warranted," the attorneys wrote.
Efforts to restrict the scope of Trump’s testimony "were erroneous and prejudicial," the attorneys added, saying Trump's testimony about his state of mind when he made disparaging comments about Carroll was stricken from the record.
"President Trump’s testimony about his own state of mind is the most relevant and probative evidence on the issue of common-law malice, and he was uniquely positioned to address it," his attorneys wrote.
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