April 20 (UPI) — A federal judge Thursday denied a request by Donald Trump‘s legal team to instruct the jury in his upcoming civil trial on rape charges that the former president is “excused” from attending unless called to testify.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan deemed the request from Trump’s lawyers “premature” in a ruling issued Wednesday.
“The question of the requested jury instruction is premature. Mr. Trump is free to attend, to testify, or both. He is also free to do none of those things. Should he elect not to appear or testify, his counsel may renew the request,” Kaplan said in the ruling.
Lawyers submitted a statement to Kaplan, requesting he instruct the jury that logistical problems were behind Trump’s possible lack of attendance at the trial.
“While no litigant is required to appear at civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify,” reads the statement submitted by Trump’s lawyers.
The former president’s legal team said the logistics of travel to and from the courthouse require days of planning and dozens of Secret Service agents, using a recent shutdown of New York City’s FDR Drive as an example.
The judge said Trump has known about the trial start date since early February, giving him “ample” time to plan ahead for any logistical issues.
Kaplan’s ruling means they could once again make the request once the proceedings get underway.
Earlier this week, Kaplan rejected a request to delay the start of the defamation and battery civil trial against Trump, brought by former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump’s legal team had sought to delay the start for a “cooling off” period. The trial is now scheduled to start April 25 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Carrol contends Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.
She filed the lawsuit in November, after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims to file civil suits that extend beyond the criminal statute of limitations.
Carroll’s lawyers have said they do not intend to call Trump as a witness.
