And yet \u2026<\/p>\n On July 3, Trump\u2019s lawyers filed what they styled as a \u201cmotion to amend\/correct\u201d<\/a> Judge Kaplan\u2019s order to expedite. And by amend, they mean \u201creconsider\u201d \u2014 or, more precisely \u201creverse\u201d \u2014\u00a0and \u201creinstate the normal briefing schedule to which President Trump is entitled under the Court\u2019s Local Rules.\u201d Their only justification appears to be that Trump has a new lawyer, Josh Halpern, since his former counsel, Justin Smith, was just confirmed to the Eighth Circuit. But Trump says he\u2019s going to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its denial of cert, so perhaps he needs more than a week to come up with a non-sanctionable argument that he\u2019s entitled to stay his own stipulation because he wants to ask his six besties to do him a solid.<\/p>\n Carroll\u2019s lawyer Roberta Kaplan was ready for that one<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later that day, she noted that Trump himself nominated Smith to the judiciary back in February and so was clearly aware that he\u2019d be down one attorney. But no matter, since Alina Habba\u2019s hapless former partner<\/a> Michael Madaio has been on the case since the beginning, so he\u2019ll need no time to get up to speed.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just table stakes. Kaplan also flagged media reports<\/a> that Trump\u2019s own Justice Department has been trying to prosecute Carroll for her conduct in this very case.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we did not want to raise what might be unnecessary details to Your Honor, in light of Defendant\u2019s continued gamesmanship, we believe it is only appropriate to bring certain developments to Your Honor\u2019s attention, as they prove the wisdom of the Court\u2019s decision to require expedited briefing and allow this case to finally come to an end,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Specifically, the DOJ is investigating whether Carroll lied in an October 2020 deposition during this colloquy:<\/p>\n HABBA: Are you presently paying your counsel\u2019s fees?<\/p>\n CARROLL: This is a contingency case.<\/p>\n HABBA: So you\u2019re not paying expenses or anything out of pocket to date; is that correct?<\/p>\n CARROLL: I\u2019m not sure about expenses. I have to look that up.<\/p>\n HABBA: Is anyone else paying your legal fees, Ms. Carroll?<\/p>\n CARROLL: No.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n On the eve of trial, Kaplan wrote<\/a> to Habba explaining that, while Carroll had told the truth to the best of her memory in 2020, \u201cshe now recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to offset certain expenses and legal fees.\u201d<\/p>\n Habba tried her best<\/a> to make this a thing<\/em> back in 2023, but all she managed to do was wring an additional deposition out of Carroll on the subject of litigation funding. But now the DOJ is (or was) trying to use that three-year-old deposition to take out not only Carroll but LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, a prolific Democratic funder whose nonprofit, American Future Republic, paid some of Carroll\u2019s legal expenses.<\/p>\n That investigation appears to have foundered after massive public backlash, with US Attorney Andrew Boutros insisting that his office \u201chas not opened\u2014and has never opened\u2014a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.\u201d<\/p>\n The following is a statement by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois:<\/p>\n \u201cIn light of wide-spread reporting and intense media and public interest into the E. Jean Carroll matter in New York, the Chicago U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office can confirm\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office (NDIL) (@NDILnews) May 28, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Notably he didn\u2019t say that he\u2019d never investigated Hoffman or his non-profit, which is the entity located in the Northern District of Illinois. But it\u2019s just as well anyway, since Boutros currently has his hands full dismissing indictments and fending off the Broadview 6 after it was revealed that his staff regularly engaged in misconduct before the grand jury.<\/p>\n That should have been the end of the matter. But instead a conservative watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center, filed a bar complaint<\/a> against Kaplan with the New York Attorney Grievance Committee.<\/p>\n From Carroll\u2019s confusion about who was paying for her case, NLPC\u2019s counsel Paul Kamenar infers that Kaplan must have lied to her own client. But then Kamenar, who has been practicing law since the 70s, affects to be confused about the difference between attorneys fees and expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cWould those legal fees paid by Reid Hoffman be considered as a gift to Ms. Carroll and subsequently be accounted for as a payment by Ms. Carroll to Ms. Kaplan, in which case they would constitute taxable income to Ms. Kaplan?\u201d he wonders. \u201cWhile any contingency fee is taxable income to a lawyer, how were the legal fees paid by Reid Hoffman accounted for?\u201d<\/p>\n He then demands \u201cat a minimum\u201d that the AGC, which is a part of the Supreme Court of New York, unseal the additional deposition testimony ordered by Judge Kaplan, of the Southern District of New York<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit much from a guy who calls himself<\/a> an \u201cOvercriminalization Expert.\u201d And it seems to have failed to impress Judge Kaplan.<\/p>\n On July 4, he denied Trump\u2019s motion to \u201camend\/correct.\u201d The president will have to explain on Tuesday why he should be entitled to yet more delay in a case which has now dragged on for four years.<\/p>\n Lotsa luck.<\/em><\/p>\n Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The post Trump\u2019s Howler Monkeys Attack Carroll\u2019s Lawyer<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n Donald Trump and his lawyers are still trying to drag E. Jean Carroll\u2019s defamation suit into overtime \u2014 and drag her lawyer Roberta Kaplan down with it.<\/p>\n Last week, Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation) granted<\/a> Carroll\u2019s motion to expedite briefing on her request to disburse the nearly $5.8 million the court has been holding for her since May of 2023, when the first jury found that he sexually assaulted and defamed her. At the time, the parties signed a stipulation<\/a> agreeing that the $5 million verdict and statutory interest would be held in court escrow until the final disposition of the case. On June 29, the Supreme Court bounced<\/a> Trump\u2019s petition for certiorari with no known dissents. Now it\u2019s time to pay up!<\/p>\n And yet \u2026<\/p>\n On July 3, Trump\u2019s lawyers filed what they styled as a \u201cmotion to amend\/correct\u201d<\/a> Judge Kaplan\u2019s order to expedite. And by amend, they mean \u201creconsider\u201d \u2014 or, more precisely \u201creverse\u201d \u2014\u00a0and \u201creinstate the normal briefing schedule to which President Trump is entitled under the Court\u2019s Local Rules.\u201d Their only justification appears to be that Trump has a new lawyer, Josh Halpern, since his former counsel, Justin Smith, was just confirmed to the Eighth Circuit. But Trump says he\u2019s going to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its denial of cert, so perhaps he needs more than a week to come up with a non-sanctionable argument that he\u2019s entitled to stay his own stipulation because he wants to ask his six besties to do him a solid.<\/p>\n Carroll\u2019s lawyer Roberta Kaplan was ready for that one<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later that day, she noted that Trump himself nominated Smith to the judiciary back in February and so was clearly aware that he\u2019d be down one attorney. But no matter, since Alina Habba\u2019s hapless former partner<\/a> Michael Madaio has been on the case since the beginning, so he\u2019ll need no time to get up to speed.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just table stakes. Kaplan also flagged media reports<\/a> that Trump\u2019s own Justice Department has been trying to prosecute Carroll for her conduct in this very case.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we did not want to raise what might be unnecessary details to Your Honor, in light of Defendant\u2019s continued gamesmanship, we believe it is only appropriate to bring certain developments to Your Honor\u2019s attention, as they prove the wisdom of the Court\u2019s decision to require expedited briefing and allow this case to finally come to an end,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Specifically, the DOJ is investigating whether Carroll lied in an October 2020 deposition during this colloquy:<\/p>\n HABBA: Are you presently paying your counsel\u2019s fees?<\/p>\n CARROLL: This is a contingency case.<\/p>\n HABBA: So you\u2019re not paying expenses or anything out of pocket to date; is that correct?<\/p>\n CARROLL: I\u2019m not sure about expenses. I have to look that up.<\/p>\n HABBA: Is anyone else paying your legal fees, Ms. Carroll?<\/p>\n CARROLL: No.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n On the eve of trial, Kaplan wrote<\/a> to Habba explaining that, while Carroll had told the truth to the best of her memory in 2020, \u201cshe now recalls that at some point her counsel secured additional funding from a nonprofit organization to offset certain expenses and legal fees.\u201d<\/p>\n Habba tried her best<\/a> to make this a thing<\/em> back in 2023, but all she managed to do was wring an additional deposition out of Carroll on the subject of litigation funding. But now the DOJ is (or was) trying to use that three-year-old deposition to take out not only Carroll but LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, a prolific Democratic funder whose nonprofit, American Future Republic, paid some of Carroll\u2019s legal expenses.<\/p>\n That investigation appears to have foundered after massive public backlash, with US Attorney Andrew Boutros insisting that his office \u201chas not opened\u2014and has never opened\u2014a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably he didn\u2019t say that he\u2019d never investigated Hoffman or his non-profit, which is the entity located in the Northern District of Illinois. But it\u2019s just as well anyway, since Boutros currently has his hands full dismissing indictments and fending off the Broadview 6 after it was revealed that his staff regularly engaged in misconduct before the grand jury.<\/p>\n That should have been the end of the matter. But instead a conservative watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center, filed a bar complaint<\/a> against Kaplan with the New York Attorney Grievance Committee.<\/p>\n From Carroll\u2019s confusion about who was paying for her case, NLPC\u2019s counsel Paul Kamenar infers that Kaplan must have lied to her own client. But then Kamenar, who has been practicing law since the 70s, affects to be confused about the difference between attorneys fees and expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cWould those legal fees paid by Reid Hoffman be considered as a gift to Ms. Carroll and subsequently be accounted for as a payment by Ms. Carroll to Ms. Kaplan, in which case they would constitute taxable income to Ms. Kaplan?\u201d he wonders. \u201cWhile any contingency fee is taxable income to a lawyer, how were the legal fees paid by Reid Hoffman accounted for?\u201d<\/p>\n He then demands \u201cat a minimum\u201d that the AGC, which is a part of the Supreme Court of New York, unseal the additional deposition testimony ordered by Judge Kaplan, of the Southern District of New York<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a bit much from a guy who calls himself<\/a> an \u201cOvercriminalization Expert.\u201d And it seems to have failed to impress Judge Kaplan.<\/p>\n On July 4, he denied Trump\u2019s motion to \u201camend\/correct.\u201d The president will have to explain on Tuesday why he should be entitled to yet more delay in a case which has now dragged on for four years.<\/p>\n Lotsa luck.<\/em><\/p>\n Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Donald Trump and his lawyers are still trying to drag E. Jean Carroll\u2019s defamation suit into overtime \u2014 and drag her lawyer Roberta Kaplan down with it. Last week, Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation) granted Carroll\u2019s motion to expedite briefing on her request to disburse the nearly $5.8 million the court has been holding for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":155830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/law-and-chaos-logo-liz-dye-300x153-OgWHl4.jpg?fit=300%2C153&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-2.23.44-PM.png?resize=948%2C764&ssl=1\" "\\"\\"")
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