E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer on Tuesday denounced as “totally baseless” claims that the judge who oversaw the defamation battle between her client and Donald Trump had a conflict of interest. .
Roberta Kaplan — the lead attorney who helped secure a massive $83 million judgment against Carroll last week — was appointed by Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation) of the Manhattan federal court where Carroll worked. He hit back at “false” accusations that he was something of a “mentor” to Carroll at the time. It was founded simultaneously in the 1990s at the Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton & Garrison law firm.
In a letter to the judge, Kaplan wrote: “During that period, I have no recollection of any interaction with Your Honor regarding the trial, participation in client or case-related meetings with Your Honor, or attendance at the trial.” ” he wrote. .
The 57-year-old attorney said that while she and Judge Kaplan, 79, did overlap at the White Shoes firm, that period was “less than two years” and that she had no “direct interaction” with him during that time. He said he couldn’t remember.
“Needless to say, we have never had a ‘mentor’ relationship,” the letter said.
“His Highness had nothing to disclose” in the defamation suit because Mr. Kaplan was a junior associate and Mr. Judge was a senior partner and they had no contact while working at the firm, the lawyers wrote.
Trump’s lawyer Alina Hubba on Monday sought answers about whether the two men’s overlapping office hours constituted a conflict of interest.
When Post columnist Charles Gasparino first asked about the matter in a report last weekend, Haba said the alleged relationship sounded “insane and very incestuous” to her and that Trump’s He said he would use it as a basis for an appeal.
Kaplan said in his plea Tuesday that the timing of the “false charges” is “alarming.”
“From the outset of their recently concluded trial, Donald Trump and Ms. Haba have pushed a false narrative of judicial bias in order to characterize the jury’s verdict against Trump as the product of a corrupt system,” the lawyers said. wrote.
Kaplan also said that anonymous sources quoted by the Post in Saturday’s story “obviously have very imperfect memories of events that occurred 30 years ago.”
“Lou was like a mentor to her,” the source (identified in the article as an unnamed former partner at the firm) claimed, referring to Judge Kaplan.
Roberta Kaplan’s letter also floated the idea of asking a judge to sanction Haba for promoting the “baseless” allegations.
Two hours later, Haba responded with a letter of his own, saying he was ready to drop the matter and move on.
“The matter appears to have been resolved, as Mr. Kaplan now denies that there was a mentor-to-leader relationship between him and His Excellency,” Haba wrote.
Haba added that the opposing lawyer had made “inflammatory and unwarranted accusations” against her, and clarified that she simply wanted to know whether the allegations were true.
On Friday, a nine-person jury found that Carroll’s allies tarnished her reputation as a journalist by saying Trump, 77, had never met her after she came forward with the accusations in 2019. After a week-long trial, they handed her a massive verdict. He sexually assaulted her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room in 1996.
Trump’s lawyers say the former “Ask E. Jean” advice columnist has enjoyed the public spotlight since going public, and that a statement the 2024 Republican presidential nominee made from the White House in June 2019 was simply He claimed it was to defend his name and some of his presidential rights. freedom of speech.
After the verdict was handed down Friday afternoon, President Trump denounced the outcome as “absolutely ridiculous!” In a post on Truth Social.
Big Apple journalist. She joked Monday night when she appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that she planned to use the cash she received from the incident for a new wardrobe.
Another jury last year found the real estate mogul responsible for sexually abusing Carroll and ordered her to pay $5 million in damages. Trump is appealing the case.
Representatives for Roberta Kaplan declined to comment outside of court documents Tuesday, while Hubba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
