Attorney E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday denounced as “absolutely baseless” claims that the judge overseeing the defamation battle between her client and Donald Trump has a conflict of interest.
Roberta Kaplan — the lead attorney who helped win the $83 million verdict for Carroll last week — hit back at “false” accusations that Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation) was like a “mentor” to her when they worked at Paul Weiss’s law firm. , Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison at the same time in the 1990s.
“I do not recall from that time ever interacting with the Honorable in a case, participating with the Honorable in client or case-related meetings, or attending court proceedings with the Honorable,” Kaplan wrote in a letter to the judge. .
The 57-year-old lawyer said he and Hakim Kaplan, 79, overlapped at the white-shoe firm, but for “less than two years,” and he could not recall any “direct interaction” with him during that period.
“Needless to say, we have never had a ‘mentor’ type relationship,” the letter said.
Because of the couple’s lack of relationship while working at the firm — a lawyer as a junior associate and a judge as a senior partner — “there is nothing for Your Honor to disclose” in the defamation case, the lawyer wrote.
E. Jean Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan denounced conflict of interest claims against her and the judge overseeing the defamation case against Donald Trump. Reuters
Trump lawyer Alina Habba on Monday demanded answers to whether the couple’s overlapping time at the firm created a conflict of interest.
When first asked about it by Post columnist Charles Gasparino in a report over the weekend, Habba said the alleged relationship sounded “absurd and very disingenuous” to him, and that he would use it as the basis for Trump’s appeal of the case.
Roberta Kaplan, in her response Tuesday, said the timing of the “false allegations” that have surfaced is “disturbing.”
“From the outset of the recent trial, Donald Trump and Ms. Habba have pushed a false narrative of judicial bias so that they can characterize any jury verdict against Trump as a product of a corrupt system,” the lawyer wrote.
Kaplan also said the anonymous source cited by The Post in Saturday’s story “clearly has a very flawed memory of events that took place three decades ago.”
The source — identified by the story as an unnamed former partner at the firm — claimed that “Lew was like his mentor,” referring to Judge Kaplan.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba demanded answers Monday about whether the judge was a “mentor” for Roberta Kaplan when the pair worked at the same law firm in the 1990s. Getty Images
Roberta Kaplan’s letter also floated the idea of asking the judge to issue sanctions against Habba for promoting the “baseless” allegations.
Two hours later, Habba replied in his own letter that he was ready to drop the issue and move on.
“Since Ms. Kaplan has now denied that there was ever a mentor-mentee relationship between her and Yang Berhormat, this issue appears to have been resolved,” Habba wrote.
Habba added that opposing counsel had made “inflammatory and unwarranted allegations” against him, and explained that he only wanted to know if the allegations were true.
On Friday, a nine-juror awarded Carroll the grand verdict following a week-long trial in which she alleged Trump, 77, damaged her journalistic reputation when she said she never met him after he came forward in 2019 with allegations that he sexually assaulted her in Bergdorf’s fitting room. Goodman in 1996.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the former advice columnist “Ask E. Jean” liked the public attention after being announced and that the 2024 GOP presidential candidate’s statements made from the White House in June 2019 were simply to defend his name and part of his right to be free. speech.
Roberta Kaplan explained that she did not recall having any interaction with the judge when they worked at the same firm. Robert Strauss Center A jury on Friday awarded Carroll an $83 million judgment that Trump must pay for defaming him. AP
After the verdict came down on Friday evening, Trump described the decision as “Absolutely ridiculous!” in a post on Truth Social.
The Big Apple reporter, in an appearance on “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC Monday night, quipped that she will use the cash awarded to her in the case for a new wardrobe.
A separate jury last year found the real estate mogul liable for sexually abusing Carroll and awarded him $5 million. Trump appealed the case.
A representative for Roberta Kaplan declined to comment outside of court papers Tuesday, while Habba did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
