US lawyers ask court to nix Donald Trump from E. Jean Carroll rape defamation suit
- The columnist sued Trump in 2019 after he denied having raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s
- The president said Carroll was ‘totally lying’ to sell her memoir and that he’d never met her
The book excerpt prompted Trump to deny the allegations and question Carroll’s credibility and motivations in a statement from his White House press office, comments in an Oval Office interview and statements to the media as he boarded a helicopter for Camp David, the lawyers said. Carroll subsequently sued Trump, alleging defamation.
The government lawyers said the statements fell within the scope of his employment as president because Carroll was, in effect, questioning his fitness to hold public office and thus statements had to be made, even if they were later deemed to be defamatory.
If the substitution was allowed, US taxpayers would be responsible for any payout that might result in the litigation.
The Justice Department lawyers wrote that Trump, expected to respond to questions from the media on matters of public concern, acts within the scope of his office when “he seeks to defuse personal issues that threaten to impair his ability to achieve his agenda.”
“Likewise, the President … acts within the scope of his office when he responds to public critics,” they said.
