The Justice Department on Tuesday said that Donald Trump can be held personally liable for remarks he made about a woman who accused him of rape – a reversal of its position that Trump was protected because he was president when he made the remarks.
In May, a jury awarded Carroll $5-million in damages after concluding that Trump sexually abused her in 1996 at a midtown Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store and then defamed her last fall with comments he made about her and her claims. While the jury concluded Trump sexually abused Carroll, it rejected her rape claim.
The letter gives fresh fuel to Carroll’s original defamation lawsuit, which had been delayed by appeals over whether Trump could be held liable for statements he made while president. “We are grateful that the Department of Justice has reconsidered its position,” she said in a statement. “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.