Donald Trump’s civil defamation trial has been postponed after a juror fell ill.
The former US president was expected to tell a jury why he has for years spoken so disparagingly about E Jean Carroll, the writer who claims he sexually attacked her in the 1990s.
As he did twice last week, Mr Trump on Monday arrived at Manhattan federal court in his motorcade for the resumption of the penalty phase over his 2019 comments branding Ms Carroll a liar who faked the sex attack to sell a memoir.
But judge Lewis A Kaplan announced just before 10am that one of the nine jurors had been told to go home and take a coronavirus test after he reported feeling hot and nauseous.
Mr Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, also reported that at least one of her parents has Covid and she has exhibited symptoms of a fever in the last two days after having dinner with them several days ago.
She said that her law partner, Michael Madaio, also attended the dinner, although both tested negative for the virus on Monday.
Ms Habba then said she did not see a problem “with a short delay for a day” so everyone can get tested. Neither lawyer wore a mask in court.
In the courtroom on Monday, Mr Trump was not wearing a protective mask.
After Mr Kaplan announced the trial would be postponed for at least a day, Ms Habba asked if Mr Trump’s evidence could be delayed until Wednesday because of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
The judge did not immediately rule but told her: “Circumstances may result in you getting what you ask for, and maybe not.”
Because a different jury found last year that Mr Trump sexually abused Ms Carroll, Mr Kaplan has ruled that if the former president takes the stand now, he will not be allowed to say she concocted her allegation or that she was motivated by financial or political considerations.
Last week, the voluble ex-president and current Republican front-runner sat at the defence table while Ms Carroll gave evidence, complaining to his lawyers about a “witch hunt” and “con job” loudly enough that the judge threatened to throw Mr Trump out of the courtroom if he kept it up.
Mr Trump piped down and stayed in court, then held a press conference where he deplored the “nasty judge”.
“It’s a disgrace, frankly, what’s happening,” Mr Trump told reporters, repeating his claim that Ms Carroll’s allegation was “a made-up, fabricated story”.
Besides tangling with Mr Kaplan, Mr Trump bucked the New York state judge in his recent civil business fraud trial involving claims that he inflated his wealth.
Mr Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, delivered a brief closing argument of sorts without committing to rules for summations and assailed the judge from the witness box.
He was also fined a total of 15,000 US dollars (£11,790) for what the judge deemed violations of a gag order concerning comments about court staffers.
Mr Trump’s lawyers are appealing the order.
In Ms Carroll’s case, her lawyers have implored the judge to make Mr Trump swear, before any evidence, that he understands and accepts the court’s restrictions on what he can say.
“There are any number of reasons why Mr Trump might perceive a personal or political benefit from intentionally turning this trial into a circus,” lawyer Roberta Kaplan wrote in a letter to the judge, who is no relation.
Mr Trump is contending with four criminal cases as well as the civil fraud case and Ms Carroll’s lawsuit as the presidential primary season gets into gear.
He has been juggling court and campaign appearances, using both to argue that he is being persecuted by Democrats terrified of his possible election.
Mr Trump is expected to travel after Monday’s court session to an evening campaign event in New Hampshire, which holds its Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.
His trips to court at times have also amplified media coverage of developments that he likes — such as an accounting professor’s evidence for Mr Trump’s defence in the fraud trial — and his criticisms of developments that he does not.
He regularly addressed the news cameras waiting outside the fraud trial in a New York state court. Cameras are not allowed in the federal courthouse where the Carroll trial is taking place, so he at one point left and held a press conference at one of his New York buildings even as his accuser continued giving evidence against him.
“I’m here because Donald Trump assaulted me, and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened. He lied, and he shattered my reputation,” Ms Carroll, a former longtime Elle magazine advice columnist, told jurors and Mr Trump while he was still in court.
Mr Trump does not have to attend or give evidence in the civil case.
He stayed away last year from the prior trial, where a different jury awarded Carroll five million dollars (£3.9 million) after deciding Mr Trump sexually abused her in 1996 and made defamatory comments about her in 2022.
Mr Trump is appealing that verdict.
For complex legal reasons, Ms Carroll’s defamation claims were divided between two lawsuits – hence the second trial, where she’s seeking more than 10 million dollars (£7.9 million) in damages.
Mr Trump has said his lawyers advised him not to dignify the first trial by attending it. He is attending the second one, he has said, because of what he views as the judge’s animus.
Ms Habba told the court in a letter that he might take to the witness box because, even with the judge’s restrictions, “he can still offer considerable testimony in his defence”.
Among other things, he can give evidence about his state of mind when he made the statements that got him sued and about how his comments came as Ms Carroll was doing media interviews and journalists were asking him about her, Ms Habba wrote.
She also suggested he could “show his lack of ill will or spite” by talking about how he “corrected” his initial denial of having ever met Ms Carroll.
The revision happened after a reporter called Mr Trump’s attention to a 1987 photograph of him, Ms Carroll and their then-spouses at a charity event.
Mr Trump responded that he was “standing with my coat on in a line — give me a break”.
