NEW YORK — A New York judge has denied a request from Donald Trump’s legal team for a mistrial in a civil rape and defamation trial.

Writer E Jean Carroll is suing Trump, alleging he raped her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has consistently denied her accusation, calling it “fiction”.

The trial began last week in a federal court in New York City.

The mistrial was denied moments before Carroll resumed testimony. She spent much of last week giving her account of the alleged assault and later being cross-examined by Trump’s lawyers.

She will face further questioning from Trump’s attorneys on Monday.

In an 18-page letter filed early this week in the New York City federal court, Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina accused US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of making “pervasive unfair and prejudicial” rulings in the trial.

He claimed there had been “numerous examples” of “unfair treatment by the court, most of which has been witnessed by the Jury”.

The filing argued the judge had “shut down” a line of questioning where Carroll was asked why she did not seek to retrieve security camera footage from the store or scream during the alleged assault.

It asked the judge to allow Trump’s lawyers more “latitude to cross-examine [Carroll] and her witnesses”.

The BBC has reached out to lawyers for Carroll for comment. Carroll, 79, said the attack occurred at a Bergdorf Goodman store in late 1995 or early 1996.

She said she and Trump bumped into each other while shopping and alleges he later assaulted her in one of the store’s changing rooms.

Trump, who is running in the 2024 presidential election, has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations.

A former columnist for Elle magazine, Carroll was able to bring the civil case against Trump after New York passed the Adult Survivors Act in 2022.

The act allowed a one-year period for victims to file sexual assault lawsuits in the state over claims that would have normally exceeded statute limitations. — BBC