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E. Jean Carrol Accused President Trump Of Rape — So Why Is The DOJ Suddenly Defending Him?

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened in a defamation lawsuit against President Trump by a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990’s. The question is:

Why… and why now?

The lawsuit in question stems from claims by E. Jean Carroll, a celebrity advice columnist, that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room of a New York City department store when he was a private citizen in the 1990’s. When the accusations arose in in connection with a book published by Carroll in 2019, Trump strongly denied the claims and stated that he didn’t know Carroll.

"I have no idea who this woman is. This is a woman who's also accused other men of things, as you know. It is a totally false accusation," Trump said to reporters on June, 22, 2019. "I think she was married, as I read. I have no idea who she is."

Subsequently, photos of the President and Carroll speaking at a social event surfaced, seemingly rebutting the President’s claim.

Carroll has since sued the President in New York for defamation, arguing that his statements and denials caused unjust harm to Carroll. President Trump has been defending the lawsuit in his personal capacity with his own personal attorneys – until yesterday.

In an unusual move, the Department of Justice made a filing with the New York court to replace Trump’s attorneys with counsel from the DOJ, claiming that Trump expressed the denials of knowing Carroll in his official capacity as President, which would make him immune from claims of defamation. Citing the Westfall Act, which provides federal employees immunity for common law liability they incur in through actions taken in their official capacity, the DOJ attorneys explained their rationale.

“President Trump was acting within the scope of his office as President of the United States at the time of the incidents out of which the Plaintiff's defamation claim arose,” the filing by the Justice Department stated. It continued, “Indeed, when providing the challenged statements, the President was speaking to or responding to inquiries from the press, much as the elected officials in the cases cited above were speaking to the press or making other public statements at the time of their challenged actions.”

The move by the Department of Justice sparked immediate surprise and outrage by the President’s critics and called into question why the unusual legal move was made, and why is was made at this time. By intervening in the case under the Westfall Act, the Justice Department can likely slow, if not altogether end, the lawsuit.

In a statement, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, noted that the New York state court in which the case was to be adjudicated had denied Trump’s call for a delay. Trump was “soon going to be required to produce documents, provide a DNA sample, and sit for a deposition,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan’s statement continued: “Realizing that there was no valid basis to appeal that decision in the New York courts, on the very day that he would have been required to appeal, Trump instead enlisted the U.S. Department of Justice to replace his private lawyers and argue that when he lied about sexually assaulting our client, explaining that she ‘wasn’t his type,’ he was acting in his official capacity as President of the United States.”

The decision by the DOJ also once again puts Attorney General William Barr in the spotlight. Barr has been accused of making several decisions at the Justice Department that would appear to benefit the President politically.

In any event, the recent actions by the Justice Department will more than likely diminish the obviously troubling lawsuit from making news in an already tight reelection campaign by the President. With Trump trailing Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden in national polls, revelations from Carroll’s lawsuit would be one more distraction for the already struggling candidate.

Regardless of the rationale, and with taxpayers now footing the bill for the defense of the President’s private legal matter, critics are claiming that the cost of President Trump’s actions are once again costing the American people.

And in this case, that is something nobody can deny.

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