NEW YORK — Donald Trump asked a judge to put a defamation lawsuit by New York columnist E. Jean Carroll on hold — and delay his deposition — after a federal appeals court issued a preliminary ruling that could derail the case.
Trump last week won part of his appeal over whether Carroll’s suit is barred by a statute that broadly protects government workers from lawsuits related to their job duties. The federal appeals court in New York agreed with him that presidents qualify as employees under the law but asked the District of Columbia’s highest local court to determine whether his remarks about Carroll were an official duty.
On Monday, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a letter to the lower-court judge that Carroll “has failed to present any tenable argument as to why this case should proceed” before addressing the question about his allegedly defamatory remarks.
