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In a recent release, the Department of Justice has announced its intentions to take over the defense of Donald Trump in a high-profile defamation suit. E. Jean Carroll, a columnist for Elle Magazine, sued Trump for defamation over statements he made to reporters last year. Carroll alleges that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store changing room in the 1990s.
Trump told reporters that he not only doesn’t know Carroll, but that her claims are completely false. In response to these claims, Carroll moved to bring a defamation suit against Trump. She alleges in the suit that his statements are untrue and were made out of intent to cause her reputation harm. Carroll is represented by attorney Robbie Kaplan.
The Department of Justice has moved to take over the defense of the president in the case. The Department has argued that Trump was speaking in his official capacity as president when he made the statements about Carroll. As such, they insist, he should be defended by the DOJ, and Carroll’s defendant should be the United States, not Trump.
However, legal scholars have noted that this defense would likely just stop Carroll’s case outright. Should the case be moved to federal court, instead of state court, Trump would be effectively shielded from all liability.
Federal employees are essentially immune to defamation suits in federal court. This is likely Trump’s goal: the have Carroll’s case dismissed, allowing him essentially immunity from his suit. Carroll would be unable to sue again, due to double jeopardy rules.
Carroll took to Twitter to vent her frustration with the president’s defense strategy. “[I’m] ready! So is every woman who has ever been silenced! BRING IT!” Carroll wrote on Twitter Wednesday. According to Carroll’s lawyer, Kaplan, Trump’s move is “unprecedented”.
Speaking on Trump’s use of the DOJ to defend him in the case, Kaplan wrote “It offends me as a lawyer, and offends me even more as a citizen”. AG Barr fired back, saying that this was standard procedure for the DOJ. When the president is the defendant in a case, if he was operating in his capacity as president, the DOJ defends him, Barr insists.
“This was a normal application of the law. The law is clear, it is done frequently, and the little tempest that’s going on is largely because of the bizarre political environment in which we live and … and I’ll just leave it at that,” Barr told reporters on Wednesday.
