DoJ appeals federal judge's ruling that Donald Trump cannot be removed as defendant in rape accuser E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit
The Justice Department is appealing a judge's refusal to let the United States replace President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a woman who says he raped her in the 1990s.
Department attorneys notified U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of its plans Wednesday to ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to consider the judge's decision.
Kaplan concluded last month in a written decision that Trump's June 19 statements about columnist E. Jean Carroll didn't constitute an official act of the presidency and were outside the scope of his employment as president.
Substituting the United States for Trump would leave taxpayers responsible for any payout in the case.
The Justice Department is appealing a judge's refusal to let the US replace President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll (right)
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that the Justice Department appeal was not a surprise because, from the start of the case, 'Donald Trump's number one goal has been to avoid discovery and cause delay.'
She said it remains to be seen if the new attorney general 'will agree that Trump was acting within the scope of his employment as President when he defamed our client.'
Still, she added, Carroll's attorneys are confident that the 2nd Circuit will uphold the judge's 'comprehensive and well-reasoned opinion.'
Justice Department attorneys say Trump had to respond in June 2019 to accusations Carroll made against him in a book because the claims related to his fitness for office.
Carroll has said Trump raped her in a luxury department store dressing room a quarter century ago after they randomly crossed paths and engaged in conversation as each recognized the other's measure of fame.
Trump rape accuser E. Jean Carroll speaks to the media as she departs from her hearing at federal court in New York on October 21
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.
'She is trying to sell a new book - that should indicate her motivation,' he said in one of various statements on the matter, adding that the book 'should be sold in the fiction section'.
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.
Trump claimed that he had never met Carroll, but the advice columnist and author submitted photographic evidence that they had in the lawsuit. The photo above shows Trump and first wife Ivana (left and right) with Carroll and her then-husband John Johnson (center)
Carroll, who was a longtime Elle magazine advice columnist until being fired last December amid her legal battle with Trump, first aired her rape allegation in her book What Do We Need Men For? A Modest Proposal in July 2019.
She wrote in the memoir, which had an excerpt featured in New York Magazine, that it happened after they ran into each other at the store and Trump recognized her from her column.
Carroll detailed her allegations against Trump in New York magazine, appearing on the cover (pictured) in the very same coat dress that she claims she was wearing on the day Trump allegedly assaulted her
Carroll said that she remained silent during the 2016 presidential campaign in part because her mother, a respected Republican official in Indiana, was dying at the time and she didn't want to add to her pain.
She said the emergence of the #MeToo movement in late 2017 prompted her to go public with her own story as she advised other women in her advice column to be brave and to seek justice when they asked her how to respond to sexual assault and abuse.
Carroll's suit seeks damages and a retraction of Trump's statements, saying they hurt her career and reputation.
Trump's legal team has repeatedly tried - and failed - to have the suit dismissed. Attorney General Bill Barr intervened in the case last month by having the DOJ seek the substitution.
Carroll's lawyers said the DOJ move was part of a pattern of maneuvers designed to delay progression of the case, including Carroll's effort to get a DNA sample from Trump to see if it matches male genetic material on a dress she says she wore the day of the alleged attack.
A lab report taken on the black wool coat-styled dress found DNA on the sleeves mixed with at least four people, including one man.
Carroll's lawyers accused the DOJ of attempting to delay progression of the case, including Carroll's effort to get a DNA sample from Trump to see if it matches male genetic material on a dress she says she wore the day of the alleged attack (pictured)
