Donald Trump will soon be facing a jury trial on civil claims of sexual assault from writer E. Jean Carroll, and ahead of these proceedings kicking off in New York City court in coming days, Trump’s legal team asked for preliminary agreement from federal Judge Lewis Kaplan to at least the possibility of characterizing any absence of Trump from the trial in what is fundamentally his favor.
The proposed commentary to the jury, if provided, would cast Trump’s absence as essentially a favor to local authorities because of purported assistance in avoiding logistical problems associated with the security requirements around any appearance in court he might make. Trump’s team noted some of the precautions taken around his recent arraignment in a separate criminal case in New York City stemming from the hush money infamously provided to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, although it’s worth noting it doesn’t seem there were any major security problems.
Kaplan has rejected Trump’s proposed instructions to the jury, although the judge noted Trump’s team would have more time-appropriate opportunities to bring up at least the possibility of saying something along those rhetorical lines in the future. Trump’s team proved initially cagey about whether he’d show up for the trial at all, making the preliminary agreement they sought from the judge to those arguments to the jury even more tenuous.
“The question of the requested jury instruction is premature,” the judge said this week. “Mr. Trump is free to attend, to testify, or both. He is free also to do none of those things. Should he elect not to appear or testify, his counsel may renew the request. In the meantime, there shall be no reference by counsel for Mr. Trump in the presence of the jury panel or the trial jury to Mr. Trump’s alleged desire to testify or to the burdens that any absence on his part allegedly might spare, or might have spared, the Court or the City of New York.” As recapped by Kaplan, Trump’s team had sought jury instructions casting his potential absence as something that “by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City,” arbitrarily boosting his image to the jury as though a civil trial on sexual assault claims is an appropriate venue for ego games.
