Trump Wears Tight Boots: No Immunity After All in E Jean Carroll Defamation Case | outside

In a letter to attorneys for Carroll and Trump, the administration said there was no evidence that Trump was sufficiently motivated by the intent to “serve the United States Government” when he denied Carroll’s sexual assault and other allegations during his tenure. woman.

Carroll, 79, accuses the 77-year-old Trump of assaulting and raping her in a New York department store in 1996. Trump, who wants to run for president again in 2024, has denied all allegations. In his own words, he didn’t even know the former Elle magazine columnist, and she wasn’t “his type.” According to him, she lied to increase sales of her memoirs.

However, a jury found in May that Trump assaulted and sexually assaulted the woman, but not that he raped her. Shortly after Trump was ordered to pay $5 million in damages, Carroll announced that she would also sue Trump for defamation over statements he made after the ruling. Then Trump initiated a defamation lawsuit against the writer.

Initially, the Justice Department under the Trump and Biden administrations said Trump was acting within his responsibilities as president when he was answering reporters’ questions in 2019 about Carroll’s allegations. Essentially, this meant that the Justice Department would replace Trump as defendant and the case would likely be dismissed.

With the Justice Department changing course after the initial ruling, Trump can now also be prosecuted for statements he made during his tenure — so far, the case has only dealt with statements he made after his four years in the White House. The Justice Department indicated that Trump was repeating statements he also made during his presidency.

Earlier, the judge also dismissed Trump’s objections to the defamation case. Trump has stated that he cannot be prosecuted because he made his statements during his presidency, and therefore would have immunity. Trump also stated that the lawsuit could not proceed because Carroll had forced him to defend himself.

The defamation case, for which Carroll sought $10 million (more than €9 million), is scheduled for January 15, 2024.