Federal judge rejects Justice Department's effort to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll rape defamation suit
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected an effort from the Justice Department to remove President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation case.
Trump is being sued for defamation by writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused the president of raping her in the 1990s.
The president denied Carroll's allegations and said she was lying to boost sales of her book.
"His comments concerned an alleged sexual assault that took place several decades before he took office," US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said of Trump, adding that the "allegations have no relationship to the official business of the United States."
A federal judge on Tuesday squashed an effort by the Justice Department to remove President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation suit from a woman who's accused the commander-in-chief of rape.
The Justice Department requested that the United States government replace Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit, in which the president is accused of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
Caroll has accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, which the president has vehemently denied. After Caroll came forward with the allegation, Trump accused her of lying and said she was trying to "sell a book." The president denied ever meeting Carroll, though there's a 1987 photo of the two together.
The Justice Department contended that Trump was acting as a government employee with regard to his comments on Carroll, attempting to establish this as the basis for removing the president as the defendant in the lawsuit.
US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected the Justice Department's argument.
"The President of the United States is not an employee of the Government within the meaning of the relevant statutes," Kaplan wrote. "Even if he were such an employee, President Trumps allegedly defamatory statements concerning Ms. Carroll would not have been within the scope of his employment. Accordingly, the motion to substitute the United States in place of President Trump is denied."
"His comments concerned an alleged sexual assault that took place several decades before he took office," the judge said of Trump, adding that the "allegations have no relationship to the official business of the United States."
Kaplan's ruling essentially means that Trump can be sued personally over the matter. If the Justice Department had been successful in their effort to remove Trump as the defendant and replace him with the US government, it's likely the case would've been dismissed due to the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity, which bars private citizens from suing the federal government without its consent.
It's unclear whether the Justice Department will appeal the ruling, and a spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Carroll's lawyer celebrated Tuesday's ruling, which came just one week before Election Day.
"The simple truth is that President Trump defamed our client because she was brave enough to reveal that he had sexually assaulted her, and that brutal, personal attack cannot be attributed to the Office of the President," attorney Roberta Kaplan said in a statement provided to Insider. "Judge Kaplan's words speak for themselves."
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