The Justice Department has reiterated its stance that comments made by Donald Trump regarding a woman who accused him of rape can result in personal liability for him.
In a letter to the judge presiding over a defamation lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll in federal court in Manhattan in 2020, the department claims it no longer has sufficient evidence to conclude that Trump’s comments regarding Carroll’s claims were driven by anything other than a minimal desire to serve the United States.
The Justice Department
The Westfall Act, which grants federal employees complete protection from lawsuits brought over conduct occurring while they were employed, had already been agreed upon by the department and Trump’s legal team as a defense to the complaint.
After finding that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll in 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman store in Manhattan’s midtown, a jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in May.
- Justice Department warns Trump’s rape allegations may lead to personal liability.
- Westfall Act provides federal employees protection from lawsuits.
- Defamation trial scheduled for January 2020, Trump’s defamation case delayed.
The verdict also found that Trump had defamed Carroll last year with remarks he made about her and her allegations. The jury found that Trump had assaulted Carroll sexually, but it denied her claim that she had been raped.
The initial defamation case will go to trial in January of next year after being delayed by appeals on whether Trump could be held accountable for remarks he made while serving as president.
Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, praised the DOJ submission and noted that it was one of the last remaining roadblocks to the case going to trial.
She thinks that rather than in his capacity as President of the United States, Trump made his false claims about her client in June 2019 out of personal animosity, malice, and spite.
