DOJ seeks to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation case – By Ben Feuerherd (NY Post) / Sept 8 2020
The Department of Justice is seeking to take over the defense of President Trump in a defamation case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who claims Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room in the 1990s.
In a Manhattan federal-court filing Tuesday, the DOJ said Trump was acting “within the scope of his office” when he denied the sexual-assault allegation, triggering the suit, so the department should take over the defense.
With the filing, the DOJ also moved the case from New York state court to federal court in Manhattan.
It also seeks to technically replace Trump with the United States as the defendant, which could result in the suit being dismissed, says CNN legal analyst and University of Texas law-school professor Stephen Vladeck, because the federal government can’t be sued for defamation.
Continue to article: https://nypost.com/2020/09/08/doj-seeks-to-stand-in-for-trump-in-e-jean-carroll-defamation-case/
