Trump’s motion for mistrial in E. Jean Carroll defamation case shot down by judge

In response to Trump attorney Alina Habba requesting a mistrial in the defamation case brought upon her client by E. Jean Carroll, arguing that messages of a threatening nature had been deleted that could have aided in Trump’s defense, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan calls the motion “pointless.”

According to NBC News, Kaplan handed down a a 30-page decision on Wednesday stating that “while Carroll admitted she deleted some of the purported death threats, the details of the deletions remain unclear,” adding that “Trump’s team failed to demonstrate that any of the missing messages would have aided his defense, which would have been necessary to show that her deletions were prejudicial.”

“The motion made no sense,” Kaplan wrote in a quote obtained from AP News, with the outlet furthering his explanation that “Habba had known for more than a year that Carroll had said that she deleted some emails making death threats against her and yet waited until trial to act surprised and request a mistrial.”

“Granting a mistrial would have been entirely pointless,” Kaplan says in an additional comment on the denial.