Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Judge: Trump Can't Be Replaced as Defendant in Defamation Suit
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
October 27, 2020

Share

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Tuesday denied President Donald Trump’s request that the United States replace him as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit alleging he raped a woman in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came after the Justice Department argued that the United States — and by extension the American people — should replace Trump as the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan came after the Justice Department argued that the United States — and by extension the American people — should replace Trump as the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The government’s lawyers contended that the United States could step in as the defendant because Trump was forced to respond to her lawsuit to prove he was physically and mentally fit for the job.

A lawyer for Carroll, Roberta Kaplan, called it a clear victory for her client.

“The simple truth is that President Trump defamed our client because she was brave enough to reveal that he had sexually assaulted her, and that brutal, personal attack cannot be attributed to the Office of the President,” Kaplan said in a statement.

Messages were left on Tuesday for lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department seeking comment.

The judge ruled that a law protecting federal employees from being sued individually for things they do within the scope of their employment didn’t apply to a president.

“The President of the United States is not an employee of the Government within the meaning of the relevant statutes,” Kaplan wrote. “Even if he were such an employee, President Trumps allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment. Accordingly, the motion to substitute the United States in place of President Trump is denied.”

Trump Said Carroll Was ‘Totally Lying’ to Sell a Memoir

Lawyers for Carroll had written that “only in a world gone mad could it somehow be presidential, not personal, for Trump to slander a woman who he sexually assaulted.”

The Justice Department relied solely on written arguments in the dispute after its lawyer was banned from a Manhattan federal courthouse last week because he had not quarantined for two weeks after traveling to New York from a state on a list of those whose coronavirus test rates were high.

Carroll, a former longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, said in her lawsuit that in the fall of 1995 or spring of 1996 she and Trump met in a chance encounter when they recognized each other at the Bergdorf Goodman store.

She said they engaged in a lighthearted chat about trying on a see-through lilac gray bodysuit when they made their way to a dressing room, where she said Trump pushed her against a wall and raped her.

Trump said Carroll was “totally lying” to sell a memoir and that he’d never met her, though a 1987 photo showed them and their then-spouses at a social event. He said the photo captured a moment when he was standing in a line.

Carroll, who wants unspecified damages and a retraction of Trump’s statements, also seeks a DNA sample from Trump to see whether it matches as-yet-unidentified male genetic material found on a dress that she says she was wearing during the alleged attack.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

DON'T MISS

Chinese Leader Xi Issues a Positive Message to US Business Leaders as Ties Improve

DON'T MISS

Cargo Ship Lost Power, Issued Mayday Before Hitting Baltimore’s Bridge

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Social Media Company Soars Nearly 50% in Its First Day of Trading on Nasdaq

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Appears Likely to Preserve Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone

DON'T MISS

Court Agrees to Pause Trump’s Civil Fraud Judgment if He Puts up $175M

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Nab Suspect in March 14 Slaying on Bulldog Lane

DON'T MISS

This Kitty Checks All the Boxes: ‘Happy, Playful, Loves to Eat’

No data was found

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

11 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

11 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

12 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

12 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

12 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

12 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

12 hours ago

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

14 hours ago

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

14 hours ago

Here Are Some Numbers That Will Help You Get Your March Madness Fix for the Sweet 16

14 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea in just over two years of war, the navy spokes...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
9 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

10 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

11 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

11 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

12 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

12 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

12 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend