Expected Trump testimony in sex abuse defamation trial postponed to Wednesday after juror falls ill

NEW YORK — With former President Donald Trump expected to soon take the witness stand, a juror’s illness abruptly forced a two-day delay Monday of a defamation trial over his comments about E. Jean Carroll, the writer he called a liar after she claimed he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

The trial will resume Wednesday. The change in plans came after the court asked for COVID-19 tests on all the jurors. One of Trump’s lawyers also hasn’t been feeling well but tested negative, and his team wanted to postpone the Republican presidential front-runner’s next appearance until after Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.

There was no indication that Trump himself wasn’t feeling well, and he didn’t wear a mask in court as he watched Monday’s brief proceeding. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan announced that one of the nine jurors was sent home to take a coronavirus test after he reported feeling hot and nauseous.

Trump attorney Alina Habba also reported that at least one of her parents has COVID-19 and that she ran a fever in the last two days after having dinner with them and her law partner, Michael Madaio. Both attorneys tested negative for the virus Monday, and neither wore a mask in court.

Habba said didn’t want to continue with a trimmed-down, eight-person jury and suggested that a day’s delay “will be better.” She later asked to postpone Trump’s testimony until Wednesday because of the New Hampshire primary, while Carroll’s lawyer pressed for the trial to resume Tuesday, if possible.

The judge didn’t immediately rule, but the court system later announced that the trial was off until Wednesday, without specifying why.

Whenever it may happen, Trump’s testimony stands to allow him — within limits that he might well test — to explain to a jury why he not only denied Carroll’s claims but branded her a liar who faked a sexual attack to sell a memoir.

Because a different jury found last year that Trump sexually abused Carroll, Kaplan has ruled that if the former president takes the stand now, he won’t 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 defense table while Carroll testified, complaining to his lawyers about a “witch hunt” and a “con job” loudly enough that the judge threatened to throw Trump out of the courtroom if he kept it up. Trump piped down and stayed in court, then held a news conference where he deplored the “nasty judge.”

“It’s a disgrace, frankly, what’s happening,” Trump told reporters, repeating his claim that Carroll’s allegation was “a made-up, fabricated story.”

Besides tangling with Kaplan, Trump bucked the New York state judge in his recent civil business fraud trial involving claims that he inflated his wealth. 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 stand. He also was fined a total of $15,000 for what the judge deemed violations of a gag order concerning comments about court staffers. Trump’s attorneys are appealing the order.

In Carroll’s case, her lawyers have implored the judge to make Trump swear, before any testimony, that he understands and accepts the court’s restrictions on what he can say.