The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Donna Robert
A New York federal judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute proposal by former President Donald Trump to provide a DNA sample in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll accusing him of raping her in the 1990s.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan cleared away a potential hurdle to an April trial, saying Mr. Trump had over three years to provide DNA, but chose not to do so.
The judge said the offer was “patently untimely” and represents either “a tactical shift or just an afterthought.”
“But whatever the explanation, the effort comes too late,” Judge Kaplan wrote in a brief order.
Judge Kaplan said reopening the dispute over DNA ahead of the April 25 trial would open a “complicated new subject into this case that both sides elected not to pursue over a period of years.”
He noted the process for exchanging evidence, known as discovery, ended four months ago, so the deadline passed to raise concerns over evidence.
Ms. Carroll’s lawyers have sought Mr. Trump’s DNA sample for three years to compare with stains on the dress she says she wore when Mr. Trump allegedly raped her in a midtown Manhattan department store in late 1995 or 1996.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegation and claims he never met her. He has insisted Ms. Carroll made the claim to boost sales of her book, which she released in 2019.
Judge Kaplan said Ms. Carroll’s lawyers should have pushed harder for the DNA sample.
“Her counsel have had plenty of opportunities in both of the two related cases to move to compel Mr. Trump to submit a DNA sample,” Judge Kaplan wrote. “Had they done so, they almost certainly would have gotten it. But Ms. Carroll’s counsel never moved to compel Mr. Trump to submit a DNA sample. They obviously decided to go to trial without it.”
An analysis of DNA on the dress concluded that it belonged to an unknown man.
As Judge Kaplan sees it, a positive match of Mr. Trump’s DNA on the dress would only prove there had been an encounter between the two on the day she wore the dress, but would not prove that a rape occurred. Thus, the sample could be entirely inconclusive.
“His conditional invitation to open a door that he kept closed for years threatens to change the nature of a trial for which both parties now have been preparing for years. Whether Mr. Trump’s application is intended for a dilatory purpose or not, the potential prejudice to Ms. Carroll is apparent,” the judge wrote.
