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WASHINGTON The Justice Department is maintaining past fights of administrations to defend former president Donald Trump against a private lawsuit filed by a woman who accused him of raping an effort that President Joe Biden criticized in running the campaign.
A federal judge in Manhattan ruled last fall that the DOJ could not seize Trump’s defense against a lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll; Carroll accused Trump of defaming her when he publicly denied allegations that he raped her more than 20 years ago in a dressing room of a department store. The government appealed and filed an introductory brief defense of its position less than a week before Biden took office in January.
On Monday, lawyers for the Department of Justice as well as Trump’s personal legal team are due to file the next round of briefs marking the first major deadline for the department under the new administration to weigh in. . In the governments ’latest brief note, Justice Department lawyers continued to press arguments that the lower court judge erred when he concluded that Trump was not protected from prosecution and was acting within the scope of his officials. office as president when he accused Carroll of lying.
When members of the White House media asked then -President Trump to respond to Carrolls’ serious allegations of wrongdoing, their questions were posed to him in his tenure as President, the Justice Department wrote in a brief statement Monday. Elected public officials can and often should address allegations of personal misconduct that arouse doubt about their suitability for the position.
The Justice Department under Biden inherited many pending legal fights during the Trump era, but Carrolls ’case was one of the few in which Biden offered an opinion about whether he was running for the position. A turnover in the White House could create sticky situations for the DOJ to navigate the history department that defends the authority of the executive branch and senior administration officials in court, regardless of party policy in power shifts to presidents.
The department took several jabs at Trump in brief Monday, writing that his comments in response to Carroll were crude and disrespectful, “unworthy,” “undesirable,” and “unnecessary and inappropriate. ” Government lawyers also stressed that the case did not “reveal the truth” of what they described as “Carroll’s serious allegations”.
But the department argued that the case at its core did not concern whether Mr. Trumps ’response was appropriate. Instead, government attorneys wrote, Carrolls’ case was prosecuted when and how federal laws to protect federal employees applied to a sitting president, questions involving institutional interests. of the federal government. Responding to false allegations of misconduct could fall into the “category of activities” conducted by a president, DOJ attorneys wrote. Citing an earlier case involving defamation against a member of Congress, the government said such types of public statements by an elected official should be protected against a lawsuit if they handle issues that concerned by the constituents.
The DOJ’s effort to intervene in the case last fall was widely criticized as a misuse of government resources on Trump’s behalf. During a national television event at town hall in October, Biden highlighted Carroll’s case as an example of Trump trying to use the Justice Department as his own law firm.
Do you remember any Republican president coming out there, or former Democratic president, Go find that person and prosecute him? Have you heard that? Or: ‘By the way, I was sued because a woman accused me of rape. You represent me You represent me. ‘… What is it all about? What was that Biden said at the time.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement that “the White House has not consulted with the DOJ in the decision to file this brief or its contents.” At his Senate hearing last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about his commitment to “reaffirm … standards” in the department, including policies that “strictly control communications with the White House.”
“And while we won’t comment on the ongoing litigation, American citizens know that President Biden and his team have different standards from their predecessors for what qualifies as acceptable statements. , “Bates wrote.
Carroll sued Trump in state court in New York in November 2019. Trump litigated the case for months using privately retained attorneys. However, in September, the DOJ filed a notice that it was transferring the case to federal court and intended to seize Trump’s legal defense on behalf of the U.S. government.
The department argued at the time that Trump was covered by a federal law that protects federal employees from being sued as individuals over actions they take as part of their job, known as the Westfall Act. When Trump denied, as president, Carrolls ’allegation and accused him of making it up to sell copies of his book, the Justice Department said this law applies.
If the DOJ succeeds, the U.S. government will be accused instead of Trump as an individual. The lawsuit is likely to end, as the government has protected a legal principle known as immunity sovereignty against a range of civil lawsuits, including libel.
In an opinion in late October, U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump was not a government employee under the Westfall Act, which refers to officers or employees of any federal agency. Even if Trump was an employee within the meaning of that law, the judge wrote, his comments about Carroll would not fall within the scope of his official duties as president, so still not covered by law his situation.
A comment about government action, public policy, or even an election differs in category than a comment about a suspected sexual abuse that occurred nearly twenty years before the president took office. And the public’s reasons for being interested in these comments also vary, Kaplan wrote in the opinion. The presidents ’views on former topics are interesting because they alert the public about what the government intends. President Trumps ’views on the alleged sexual assault may be interesting to some, but they have disclosed nothing about the government’s operation.
The Justice Department and Trumps personal legal team, led by his longtime attorney Marc Kasowitz, have appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. On Jan. 15, the Justice Department and Trump’s personal attorneys each filed opening brief challenges to Kaplans ’decision. Carrolls’ attorneys filed a response on April 16.
The DOJ and Trump were due to file their responses to Carrolls ’brief record on May 7, but asked the appeals court for a one-month extension, which the court approved. The Department of Justice did not cite the new administration as the reason for the delay, which historically the government has made postelection in some cases, saying only that the lawyer handling the case was against deadlines in many other cases and need more time. Until late April, the Justice Department indicated that it was still participating in the case, with one of the lawyers notifying the court about when he would be available for arguments in the last year.
In a statement issued by her legal team in response to the Justice Department’s latest brief, Carroll said, “As women across the country stand up and hold men accountable for the attack — the DOJ is trying to prevent me from having the same right… I am angry! I am hurt! “
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan also released a statement saying they are confident they will win the appeal.
“It is shocking that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store many years ago. But it is shocking that the current Department of Justice would allow Donald Trump to get away with lying about it, and consequently removed our client his day in court.DOJs position is not only illegal, it is morally wrong because it will give federal officials a free license to cover up private sexual misconduct through public brutal to any women who have the courage to approach. to sexually assault a liar, a whore, or not my kind, as Donald Trump did here, is not the official act of an American president, ” said Kaplan.
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