Trump not personally liable for “crude remarks” made while president about rape accuser E. Jean Carroll, DOJ argues – By AP News (CBS News) / June 8 2021
Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for “crude” and “disrespectful” remarks he made while president about a woman who accused him of rape, Justice Department lawyers said Monday in arguing for him to be replaced by the United States as defendant in a defamation lawsuit.
The lawyers told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that responding to allegations of misconduct falls within activities that form part of any president’s office.
Mr. Trump was acting “within the scope of his office” in denying wrongdoing when White House reporters asked him about claims by columnist E. Jean Carroll in a June 2019 book that he attacked her in the mid-1990s at an upscale Manhattan department store, the lawyers from the Washington office of the Justice Department wrote.
