Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Donald Trump could be in for another serious legal setback even as he buckles under the pressure of a slew of legal challenges he is left to contend with, said his niece Mary Trump in a post on Monday.
What Happened: Donald Trump may be looking at “another serious legal setback that could add millions to his already astronomical fines, including his March 25 deadline to pay New York State nearly half a billion dollars for the fraud judgment entered by Judge Arthur Engoron,” said Mary Trump in a substack post.
She noted that the former president’s first criminal trial for election fraud is slated to start on the same day.
After defaming E. Jean Carroll at the Georgia election rally last Saturday, Donald Trump followed it up on Monday in an interview with CNBC, Mary Trump said. “Donald claimed that he [had] ‘no idea who she is’ when discussing Carroll,” the clinical psychologist said.
Mary Trump noted that Carroll’s attorney Robbie Kaplan said in a statement on Monday that "the statute of limitations for defamation in most jurisdictions is between one and three years.”
"As we said after the last jury verdict, we continue to monitor every statement that Donald Trump makes about our client.,” the attorney reportedly said.
Why It’s Important: Donald Trump’s decision to choose CNBC to defame Carroll was a “highly significant” mistake, according to attorney George Conway, said Mary Trump. The former president’s comments in the Georgia rally meant Carroll would have to file a new case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the attorney reportedly said.
Since CNBC Squawk Box is headquartered in Manhattan, Carroll can now sue in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the case could be assigned to Judge Lewis Kaplan, who tried the earlier two defamation cases, he added.
Mary Trump said, “Realistically, if Carroll does bring another case, it would probably be a slam dunk.”
In another setback to Donald Trump, Carroll’s lawyer reportedly forced change the terms of the former president’s bond, reducing the time between the resolution of appeal and the payment of damages to the author from 60 days to 30 days, the psychologist said.
Mary Trump also flagged a connection between her uncle and Chubb Corp, which has guaranteed his $92 million bond. She noted that Chubb provided health insurance to her grandfather's company and the family starting decades ago.
Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg might be “doing Donald a favor, as opposed to making a sound business decision,” she said adding that her uncle in Oct. 2018 appointed Greenberg to serve as a member of the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations for a term of four years.
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