Trump may be held accountable in a writer’s libel lawsuit when the Justice Department changes its tune

Donald Trump’s comments about a woman who accused him of rape may be held personally accountable, according to the Justice Department, reversing its previous view that Trump was immune from liability because he was the president at the time.

The department claims it no longer has “a sufficient basis” to conclude that Trump was motivated in his remarks about Carroll’s claims by more than a minimal desire to serve the United States in a letter submitted to the judge overseeing a defamation lawsuit that columnist E. Jean Carroll filed in federal court in Manhattan in 2020. Previously, the department had agreed with Trump’s lawyers that the Westfall Act, which grants federal workers complete immunity from lawsuits filed over behavior happening in the course of their job, shielded him from the claim.

After finding that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll in 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman shop in Manhattan’s midtown, a jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in May. The verdict also found that Trump had defamed Carroll last year with remarks he made about her and her allegations. The jury found that Trump had assaulted Carroll sexually, but it denied her allegation that she had been raped.

After New York State temporarily permitted victims of sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits for assaults that happened even decades earlier, Carroll filed a complaint in November of last year as a consequence. U.S. attorneys noted the jury’s decision, Trump’s October deposition, and further allegations Carroll has subsequently made that Trump once again defamed her with remarks he made during a CNN town hall the day following the judgment.

The letter rekindles Carroll’s first defamation action, which was put on hold due to appeals over whether Trump could be held accountable for remarks he made while serving as president. The first allegations, which Carroll first made public in a book in 2019, are set to go to trial in January 2020. They are based on statements made by Trump in 2019.

The DOJ submission was welcomed by Carroll’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan, who referred to it as one of the “last hurdles” remaining before the case goes to trial. She stated in a statement, “We are appreciative that the Department of Justice has revised its stance. We’ve always held the opinion that Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about our client in June 2019 were made out of personal animosity, malice, and spite rather than in his capacity as president of the United States.

Trump’s legal counsel did not respond right away. In a defamation case, Trump’s attorneys claimed that Carroll had defamed him with remarks she made after the May decision, in part because she repeated claims that he had raped her. Carroll’s attorneys earlier in the day filed paperwork to refute this allegation.

His complaint, according to the attorneys, was “nothing more than his latest attempt to spin his loss at trial,” they said. According to certain criminal laws, the sexual abuse for which Trump was held responsible is akin to rape, and if it had been a criminal allegation, he would have had to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life. Unless a victim comes forward publicly, as Carroll has done, The Associated Press normally does not identify those who claim to have been sexually assaulted.