Trump attending rape defamation trial would ‘burden’ NYC and court: Lawyers

Donald Trump‘s legal counsel said the former president “wishes” he could appear at next week’s civil trial where a court will hear sexual assault and defamation claims against him, but that attending the trial would create a “burden” on New York City and the court complex.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina submitted a letter to the judge presiding over the case, suggesting that Trump shouldn’t attend the civil trial over logistical concerns but without suggesting that the former president wouldn’t attend.

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“Although Defendant Trump wishes to appear at trial,” Tacopina wrote, the attorney cited concerns such as “his movement would need to be coordinated preliminarily by a Secret Service advance team hours beforehand each day that he is present, so that a tactical plan may be developed.”

The scenario described by Tacopina appeared similar to Trump’s arraignment in New York earlier this month when he was confronted with a 34-count felony indictment charging him in a scheme to cover allegations of an affair that arose during his first White House campaign. Before arriving at the courthouse, streets were closed as a Secret Service detail drove Trump directly to the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse that day.

Tacopina asked the judge to relay a “preliminary instruction” to the jury if Trump does not make an appearance at the trial.

“While no litigant is required to appear at a civil trial, the absence of the defendant in this matter, by design, avoids the logistical burdens that his presence, as the former president, would cause the courthouse and New York City. Accordingly, his presence is excused unless and until he is called by either party to testify,” the Trump team’s message read.

Jury selection begins Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, who alleges Trump raped her in a New York dressing room in the 1990s and that he defamed her years later when he denied it took place, saying she wasn’t his “type” while suggesting she made up the story for book promotion.

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Tacopina’s statement makes clear that if Trump were called to testify, he would show up in person. If he is not called, his team asks the judge to tell jurors he is not required to be there and that he wouldn’t be there for logistical reasons.

Carroll’s counsel has said she plans to attend the trial.