In an August letter to a New York federal judge just made public Tuesday, Carroll’s attorney notified the court that serious legal action was to be taken. The issue was raised in court filings related to Carroll’s current lawsuit against the former president. She sued Trump while still in the White House, claiming she was defamed when Trump said the journalist’s revelations in her memoir were lies, adding a tiresome line about how she’s “not my type.” Although the underlying charges involve sexual assault claims against the real estate billionaire, the nature of the litigation has not been ready to go after Trump for the actual alleged assault. That has changed. Roberta A. Kaplan, an attorney for the reporter, explained in her letter to the judge that Carroll is now preparing to file a separate lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act “as soon as possible,” which is Nov. 24. Kaplan also explained that Trump — as he has done in nearly every court case of late — is refusing to turn over court-authorized evidence. Trump “remains unwilling to produce any documents for discovery,” Kaplan wrote. That’s why, he said, Trump should be dragged into a room for a deposition to question him under oath — an embarrassing exercise that could elicit damning information from the former president. And since this is a civil case, any question Trump refuses to answer can be interpreted in the worst possible light — even as an admission. Kaplan’s letter was written to another Kaplan: U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is overseeing the defamation case and had previously instructed both parties to share information with each other. (There is no known relationship between the two.) In a scathing response on Aug. 11, Trump attorney Alina Haba accused Carroll’s lawyer of misleading the judge by “repeatedly mischaracterizing the parties’ discovery efforts to date.” “Indeed, the letter contains numerous inaccuracies seemingly intended to make it appear as [Trump] is not complying with its discovery obligations,” Habba wrote. “That’s just not the case.” But Habba’s letter revealed that — once again — Trump is hiding behind the presidential seal and renouncing expired credentials to keep the evidence out of the public’s hands. Haba defended Trump’s use of “executive privilege” to prevent Carroll from obtaining certain documents related to how he verbally attacked her character while in the White House. Carroll’s next lawsuit could have a dramatically different—and more serious—outcome than the current defamation case. In the current legal battle, Trump has managed to hire the Justice Department to defend him, leaving taxpayers on the hook for what is clearly a personal battle. However, any lawsuit under New York’s rape survivor law would directly target him while he is no longer in office.
