Donald Trump’s Deposition is the October Surprise No One Was Expecting

Following a number of delays, a New York District judge has ordered Donald Trump to sit for a disposition hearing for defamation lawsuit stemming from allegations he raped a woman in the 1990s.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled on Wednesday that the former president must answer questions under oath in relation to the allegations made by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll claims that Trump assaulted her at a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, and later defamed her character while denying it.

Kaplan rejected Trump's legal team's attempts to have the deposition delayed and ordered the former president to appear for a deposition hearing on Sunday.

"The defendant should not be permitted to run the clock out on plaintiff's attempt to gain a remedy for what allegedly was a serious wrong," Kaplan wrote.

The decision means that Trump must now answer questions over claims he defamed Carroll's character under three weeks before the midterm elections take place.

With the hearing taking so close to the midterms, where the GOP will be hoping to regain control of the Senate and the House, the deposition could be seen as a so-called "October surprise"a news event that has the potential to influence the results of an upcoming November election.

For months, there has been speculation that the October surprise that may drop prior to the Midterms could be Trump being indicted over any of investigations into him, or the House select committee looking into the January 6 attack releasing their report on the former president's actions surrounding the insurrection.

However, the January 6 panel, who present their ninth and possibly final live hearing on Thursday, have not confirmed when they will release their report. It was said that the committee may release a preliminary version in October, but this was before their ninth hearing was delayed from September 29 because of Hurricane Ian.

It is also unlikely that the Department of Justice will file any charges against Trump over January 6 or allegations he mishandled classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort to adhere to the 90-day rule.

This is an unofficial but highly followed protocol, meaning that prosecutors will avoid making any decisions that could affect how people vote so close to an upcoming election or elections to avoid accusations of meddling in the political process.

However, despite its proximity to the midterm elections, Thomas Gift, founding director of University College London's Centre on US Politics, says that barring "something unforeseen," the odds of Trump's deposition having an impact on the outcome of midterm results are "essentially zero."

"The same is true of it affecting his own chances in 2024 if he decides to run for president. Trump has been marred by so many scandals, allegations and accusations of wrongdoing that this story, too, will get lost in the shuffle," Gift told Newsweek.

"Trump is known as the 'Teflon president' for a reason. The haze of scandals surrounding him at any one time is almost too much for voters to keep track of, and he effectively uses the sheer number of court cases he's implicated in as evidence that he's the victim of a political hit-job.

"For any other politician, this would be a major story. For Trump, it's just business as usual," Gift said.

Trump's lawyers have attempted to quash the suit by claiming the Republican was just doing his job as president by denying the rape allegations, including stating Carroll is "not my type" in 2019.

If authorities agree that Trump was acting within the scope of his duties as a federal employee by denying the claims, then the U.S. government would become the defendant in the case.

In a lengthy statement on his social-media channel Truth Social on Wednesday night, Trump described the suit as a "complete con job," while once again denying the rape claim because Carroll is "not my type."

"She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, 'swooned' her," Trump wrote.

"It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years. And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!

"She has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called 'event' supposedly took place. The reason she doesn't know is because it never happened, and she doesn't want to get caught up with details or facts that can be proven wrong."

A spokesperson for Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, told the Associated Press she looked forward to "moving forward to trial with all dispatch."

On May 24, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Adult Survivors Act, which allows alleged victims of rape to sue for damages without the statute of limitations blocking it.

A spokesperson for Kaplan's firm added that the latest comment from Trump "obviously does not merit a response."

Read more from the original source:

Donald Trump's Deposition is the October Surprise No One Was Expecting