Donald Trump’s habit of calling for protests against his detractors was cited by a New York judge who decided jurors will be anonymous at the trial over a lawsuit brought against the former president by E. Jean Carroll, the author who claims he raped her in the 1990s.
(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump’s habit of calling for protests against his detractors was cited by a New York judge who decided jurors will be anonymous at the trial over a lawsuit brought against the former president by E. Jean Carroll, the author who claims he raped her in the 1990s.
Keeping the names of jurors secret — more common in cases involving organized crime and terrorism cases including — is warranted in part because Trump last week called on his supporters to protest what he described as his imminent arrest in a separate case by the Manhattan district attorney and urged them to “take our country back,” US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a ruling Thursday.
“That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence,” Kaplan wrote. “And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters.”
Carroll’s sexual-battery suit against Trump, which also includes a claim for defamation, is set to go to trial April 25. She filed the suit last year under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on abuse that allegedly occurred years ago.
Anonymous jurors have been used in New York criminal cases against organized crime figures like John Gotti, drug lords like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and prosecutions of members of al-Qaeda for fatal bombings at US embassies.
Read More: Trump May Face Anonymous Jury in High-Profile Defamation Trial
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