Judge rules Trump must testify in alleged rape case

MADRID, 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a request by former US President Donald Trump to postpone his testimony, scheduled for next week, in a defamation case against a woman who accused him of rape.

New York Magistrate Lewis Kaplan has ruled that the former president's argument does not meet the legal threshold required for the stay to be issued. He has also warned that Trump appears to be trying to delay the case as long as possible.

"Trump has not established that he has a strong probability of success. In any case, the balance is decidedly tilted against him," indicates the document signed by the judge.

Kaplan has also rejected the defendant's request to substitute the US government in the case as a defendant, replacing him, on the grounds that the alleged defamation occurred when he was president. In the event that he made the substitution, Carroll's case would be annulled because the Government would invoke the principle of sovereign immunity, which would protect him from being sued without consent.

Trump has asked that proceedings brought by Carroll be halted while the Court of Appeals considers whether the former country's leader was acting as president when he made the comments against the victim.

E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and columnist at 'Elle' magazine, sued Trump in 2019 for defaming her by calling his accusations that he raped her in the 1990s a "complete lie." The businessman and politician, then occupying the House Blanca denied having met her and criticized the journalist's appearance.