The Justice Department has abandoned plans to defend Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, saying in a court filing Tuesday that it no longer believes he was acting within the scope of his presidential duties in 2019 when he allegedly defamed the writer while denying her rape accusation.
The “Department has determined that there is no longer a sufficient basis to conclude that the former President was motivated by ‘more than an insignificant’ desire to serve the United States Government” when he disparaged Carroll in remarks to reporters four years ago.
Trump’s remarks came shortly after Carroll alleged that he’d raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Carroll then sued Trump for defamation, and the Justice Department at the time moved to represent him, arguing he should have total immunity for his comments because he “was acting within the scope of his office and employment as President of the United States when he made the statements.”
In a letter Tuesday to lawyers involved in the case, the Justice Department said it had changed its position given new evidence, including a jury verdict this year that found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll and defamatory comments he made about her after leaving the White House.
The reversal lessens Trump’s chances of escaping liability in Carroll’s remaining lawsuit against him.
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney for Carroll, welcomed the Justice Department’s decision.
“We are grateful that the Department of Justice has reconsidered its position,” Kaplan 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.”
An attorney for Trump did not have an immediate comment.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
