The Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined that former United States President Donald Trump is no longer immune in a defamation lawsuit filed by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Previously, the DOJ certified that the former president was acting in the scope of his employment as the nation's leader when he made defamatory statements where he denied Carroll's allegations that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s.
Jean Carroll Defamation Lawsuit
But the department has now reversed its decision, which leaves the Republican businessman at risk of any potential damages brought by the lawsuit. DOJ officials cited the legal battle that ensued regarding whether their original certification was proper.
The DOJ, citing the recent rulings, wrote that it had determined that there was not enough evidence to conclude that Trump had an actual purpose to serve the US government to support the determination that he was still acting within reach of the scope of his employment when he made statements denying Carroll's sexual assault accusations, as per The Hill.
The writer's second lawsuit against Trump went to trial in May, where a jury found the former president liable for sexually abusing Carroll and later defaming her by denying her side of the story. Those claims did not include the Republican's time as president of the United States, meaning they were not affected by immunity issues.
However, the longtime advice columnist's first lawsuit, which only includes defamation claims, has yet to go to trial. Under the Westfall Act, the DOJ attempted to intervene and declare the former president immune in that lawsuit by acknowledging that he made defamatory remarks within the scope of his presidency.
The suit then focused on Trump's initial denials about the situation when the writer went public in June 2019. However, because the jury sided with Carroll, her first lawsuit became bigger in scope.
Lawyers of the DOJ said in the filing that new evidence suggests that the former president was motivated by a "personal grievance" when he made the defamatory remarks about Carroll, according to the New York Times.
Donald Trump's Immunity
They noted that the former president's 2019 statements about the writer were made through official channels that presidents commonly use to communicate with the news media. However, the lawyers noted that while the remarks were made in a work context, they were related to a purely personal incident.
Roberta A. Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, said they were grateful that the DOJ reconsidered its position regarding the issue. She claims that Trump made the statements against her client out of "personal animus, ill will, and spite."
Trump has repeatedly claimed that his remarks were made within the scope of his presidency because he needed to speak out against Carroll to maintain the American people's trust.
The remarks in question had the former president calling the writer a liar and accusing her of making up the alleged assault just to sell a book she had written, said Yahoo News.
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