Hoffman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer, responded in a letter to the court on Thursday, asking the judge to deny Trump’s latest bid for a delay to the trial.

“One thing is clear — Trump will stop at nothing to avoid having a jury hear Carroll’s claims,” she wrote.

Kaplan said her client was preparing for trial recently when she recalled hearing that her lawyers, who were operating on a contingency fee basis, had also secured funding from a nonprofit organisation. Carroll’s lawyers then notified Trump’s lawyers, who demanded to know the source of the funding.

Meanwhile, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals released a written opinion on Thursday providing additional legal insight that the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals can use to decide if the United States can be substituted for Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit Carroll filed before her November rape lawsuit.

The 2nd Circuit had asked the D.C. court to provide insight into the law addressing when an employer should be liable for the actions of its employee.

The D.C. court said it lacked facts to recommend whether it believed that allegedly libellous statements Trump made after Carroll’s rape claims became public fell within the scope of his employment as president.

It did attempt to clarify the law, though it noted that most of its case law on the subject pertained to disputes over whether law enforcement individuals could be held personally liable.

The defamation lawsuit eventually will be dismissed if the United States is substituted as a defendant, and a trial might become unnecessary otherwise because the November rape lawsuit also contains a defamation claim against Trump.

In an unrelated case, Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York’s attorney general over his company’s business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.

The Republican met all day with lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump last year. Her lawsuit claims Trump and his family misled banks and business associates by giving them false information about his net worth and the value of assets such as hotels and golf courses.

Shortly after Trump entered the Manhattan skyscraper that houses James’ offices, his attorney, Alina Habba, said he was “not only willing but also eager to testify.”

“He remains resolute in his stance that he has nothing to conceal, and he looks forward to educating the Attorney General about the immense success of his multi-billion dollar company,” Habba said in a statement.

The lawsuit is unrelated to the felony criminal charges filed against Trump by the Manhattan district attorney, which led last week to his historic arraignment, the first for a former president.

In a social media post Thursday morning, Trump called the suit “ridiculous, just like all of the other Election Interference cases being brought against me.”

AP

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