Judge nixes Trump bid to delay suit from woman alleging rape

A New York judge kcked down President Donald Trump’s bid to delay a lawsuit from a woman who accused him of rape, ruling in a decision released Thursday that presidency doesn’t shield him from case.

Pointing to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that president isn’t immune from a New York prosecutor’s criminal investigation, Manhattan judge Verna Saunders said same principle applies to E. Jean Carroll’s defamation suit, in which Trump’s lawyers have argued that Constitution bars presidents from being dragged into lawsuits in state courts.

“, it does t,” Saunders wrote.

decision allows Carroll — who’s seeking Trump’s DNA as potential evidence — to keep pursuing her suit. She says he slurred her in denying her claim that he raped her in 1990s.

“We are w er to move forward with discovery so that we can prove that Donald Trump defamed E. Jean Carroll when he lied about her in connection with her brave decision to tell truth about fact that Donald Trump h sexually assaulted her,” said her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan.

A mess was sent to Trump’s lawyers about ruling.

Carroll, who was a longtime Elle magazine vice columnist until December, went public last year with an allegation that Trump raped her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in mid-1990s. She said it happened after y ran into each or and bantered about trying on a bodysuit.

Trump said Carroll was “totally lying” to sell a memoir and that he’d never met her, though a 1987 photo showed m and ir n-spouses at a social event. He said it just captured a moment when he was standing in a line.

Carroll is trying to get a DNA sample from Trump to see wher it matches as-yet-unidentified male genetic material found on a dress that she says she was wearing during alleged attack and didn’t don again until a photo shoot last year.

Trump’s lawyers have argued suit shouldn’t proceed at least until New York’s highest court decides -- in a separate case -- wher an incumbent president is shielded from all state-court suits unrelated to his official duties.

Previous U.S. Supreme Court decisions have said incumbent presidents can’t be sued anywhere over official actions — so as to prevent prospect of suits from influencing ir decision-making — but y are subject to federal civil suits regarding private behavior.

high court hasn’t specifically dressed wher suits over a president’s private conduct can unfold in state courts.

Carroll’s lawyers, however, have argued justices essentially settled question when y ruled last month on Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s ability to subpoena Trump’s tax records for a state grand jury investigation.

“We cant conclude that absolute immunity is necessary or appropriate,” Supreme Court said.

ruling left leeway for Trump’s lawyers to challenge Vance’s subpoena on or grounds, and y are doing so. Trump, a Republican, has called Democratic DA’s inquiry into his financial dealings “a pure witch hunt.”

Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz has contended that Supreme Court’s ruling “was limited to criminal context, and its reasoning does t extend to civil actions.”

Carroll’s suit seeks dams and a retraction of Trump’s statements, saying y hurt her career and reputation.

Associated Press does t identify people who say y have been sexually assaulted unless y come forward publicly.