WASHINGTON — A U.S. federal judge on Friday denied former President Donald Trump's fourth attempt to delay the trial date in a defamation case against him brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, in a 17-page order, said Trump's request to stay the case while he appealed a previous ruling from the same court failed to meet any of the criteria under which a delay would typically be granted.
Kaplan's opinion clears the way for the trial to begin in January, likely within days of the Iowa caucus, where Trump hopes to emerge victorious in a crowded Republican presidential primary field.
The trial is currently set to begin on Monday, Jan. 15, the same day as the first-in-the-nation nominating contest in Iowa. But a federal holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, also falls on the 15th next year.
If the current timeline holds through January, then the trial in federal district court in the Southern District of New York will most likely begin the following day, Jan. 16.
Carroll, 79, first sued then-president Trump for defamation in 2019, based on public statements he made after she alleged that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s in a department store.
Responding to the allegation, then-president Trump denied ever meeting Carroll, accused her of using the allegation to sell books and suggested she was a Democratic party operative.
As the defamation case wound its way through the legal system, Carroll sued Trump again in 2022 under a different statute, accusing him of both sexual abuse and defamation.
The 2022 lawsuit went to trial earlier this year and a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, and ordered him to pay her $5 million. Trump is appealing that verdict.
Friday's ruling was tied to a separate appeal, this one prompted by the judge in the 2019 case's previous refusal to throw out the suit based on Trump's last minute claim of presidential immunity. Trump appealed that ruling, then asked for his trial to be delayed while that appeal move through the court.
But Kaplan said in Friday's ruling that Trump's appeal was "frivolous," and his request to delay trial so his appeal could be considered was similarly weak.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
This story is breaking news and will be updated.