This is Wild! New information might save Trump $83.3 million in Carroll case

Okay, a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll a whopping $83.3 million in damages for alleged defamation by former President Trump that she claimed that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. If you get a gander of Carroll, picture her and Trump some 30 years younger, it seems highly doubtful that this ever happened. She is now, and was then, not the hottest chick by the coop's heater.

Although Trump's courtroom antics didn't help the case, the judge's bizarre orders to hamstring Trump's defense by not allowing him to present exculpatory evidence or defend himself, was disgusting.

But why did the judge do this? Why? Why oh why?

Because the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, who presided over the case, has a major conflict of interest. [H/T The New York Post.]

Kaplan, the Judge, was once a "mentor" to Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan. While they aren't related, they worked together in the early 1990s at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton &Garrison in Midtown Manhattan.

Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, filed a letter on Monday:

If Your Honor truly worked with Ms. Kaplan in any capacity—especially if there was a mentor/mentee relationship—that fact should have been disclosed before any case involving these parties was permitted to proceed forward. This issue is particularly concerning since Plaintiff’s other lead counsel, Shawn Crowley, served as Your Honor’s law clerk, and we were previously advised that Your Honor co-officiated her wedding. 28 U.S.C. Section 455(a) states that “[a]ny… judge … of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

Additionally, Habba pointed out that Canon 3 of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges is quite clear: a judge is required to "disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge's impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including" when the judge served as "a lawyer with whom the judge previously practiced law served."

It seems clear that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan worked with Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan and even officiated at her wedding. That sounds like a conflict of interests if there ever was one.

Furthermore, Carroll’s other lawyer was also a law clerk for Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. 

The fact that Judge Lewis Kaplan didn’t reveal these conflicts of interest is enough for him to face major consequences, but there is no doubt that he should have recused himself from the case.

Habba is putting him to task and calling on him to confirm or deny the associations. But as we know, lawyers shouldn't ask questions to which they don't already know the answers.

Here, without knowing more information (or having a specific factual denial by Your Honor that you had a mentor-mentee relationship with Ms. Kaplan), we are unable to flesh out our position concerning what specific relief should be requested, including, but not limited to, moving for new trials on the issues of liability and damages. Surely, however, this Court should provide defense counsel with all of the relevant facts. At a minimum, this information could certainly prove relevant to President Trump’s forthcoming Rule 59 motion.

Habba had been planning to appeal the decision due to Judge Kaplan being "overly hostile." Now it's looking even better for Trump because it seems obvious that something here stinks.

“We believe, and will argue on appeal, that the Court was overtly hostile towards defense counsel and President Trump, and displayed preferential treatment towards Plaintiff’s counsel,” Habba said. “Indeed, the rulings, tone, and demeanor of the bench raised significant concerns even before the New York Post’s investigative journalism unearthed these new facts."

At this point, it should be obvious that the legal system is weaponized against him and what this also should tell us is that this will ensure his supporters are going to get themselves to the polls on Election Day.

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