The Department of Justice dropped its argument that Donald Trump was acting within the scope of his office as president of the United States when he allegedly defamed E. Jean Carroll.
Writer E. Jean Carroll leaves a Manhattan court house after a jury found former President Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990's, New York City, May 9, 2023.was acting within the scope of his office as president of the United States in 2019, when he allegedly defamed writer E. Jean Carroll, who had accused him of rape.
The letter comes two months after a trial for a separate federal lawsuit by Carroll that ended with a jury ordering Trump to pay her $5 million for sexually abusing her in the dressing room in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and for defaming her when he again denied her rape claim last year. The DOJ had not played a role in that lawsuit, as the alleged actions occurred outside of Trump tenure in the White House. Trump is appealing the verdict and jury award.
"The Department of Justice is declining to certify under the Westfall Act ... that defendant Donald J. Trump was acting within the scope of his office and employment as President of the United States when he made the statements that form the basis of the defamation claims in plaintiff's Amended Complaint in this action," wrote Brian Boynton, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the DOJ's civil division.
"We have always believed that Donald Trump made his defamatory statements about our client in June 2019 out of personal animus, ill will, and spite, and not as President of the United States," Kaplan said. "Now that one of the last obstacles has been removed, we look forward to trial in E Jean Carroll's original case in January 2024.
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