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March 23 (UPI) -- A New York federal judge has ordered the use of an anonymous jury for former President Donald Trump's sexual assault civil trial next month, saying that his recent calls for protest could lead to harassment against the jurors. The case centers on writer E. Jean Carrol's civil suit alleging Trump raped her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.
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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said Thursday that Trump's calls for protest against his potential indictment on a hush-money charge he also is facing creates "a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment."
"Mr. Trump's quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this court was to encourage 'protest' and to urge people to 'take our country back,'" Kaplan wrote in an 18-page decision. "That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials, and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters."
The ruling instructs jury members not to reveal the names, addresses or places of employment.
Trump has recently called for protests amid reports that he could be indicted soon for hush money payments he made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
The grand jury in that case will not meet again until at least Monday.
The sex-assualt trial begins April 25.
