Donald Trump and his lawyers continue to both silence and dismiss survivors who have spoken up about the abuse Trump has inflicted on them. More than 25 women have shared their stories, creating a timeline composed of years of sexual assault committed by Trump. A defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a popular columnist, is once again making headlines due to the Justice Department’s intervention in it. Caroll alleges she was raped by Trump in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Of course, as with the other allegations against him, Trump denied this in public statements, in addition to ruining Caroll’s reputation by claiming she spoke up with a political incentive.
According to The New York Times, Trump has taken to altering his legal persona while defending himself in many legal matters, sometimes fighting a case as president and others as an ordinary citizen. Carroll’s lawyers alleged Monday that Trump is using this very tactic to involve the Department of Justice in the case and replace his private lawyers. In a Monday court filing, Carroll’s attorneys Roberta Kaplan and Joshua Matz argued that Trump is not covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act, which gives the government the legal responsibility to cover the wrongful acts of lower-level government employees, ABC News reported. "There is no merit to the Justice Department's certification that Trump acted within the scope of his employment as President in defaming Carroll," the filing said. "There is not a single person in the United States — not the President and not anyone else — whose job description includes slandering women they sexually assaulted.”
At the request of the White House, Trump’s Attorney General William P. Barr argued for the Justice Department’s involvement last month. In a statement, he said that since Trump has denied the allegations, the country can substitute itself for Trump in the case. If the department successfully substitutes the government for Trump as the defendant in the case, under law Trump would be protected from being sued for defamation. In their filing, Carroll’s attorney’s requested a judge to block the move, which would dismiss Carroll’s case. Additionally, her lawyers also argued that New York state law applies to this type of case.
According to the Times, the lawsuit was filed in a state court in Manhattan in November and was making progress in the summer after a judge rejected Trump’s efforts to postpone it. But before a decision and DNA samples could be shared to determine whether the material on Carroll’s dress was a match, the Justice Department intervened in the case. And this wasn’t Trump’s only attempt to disregard or delay the lawsuit. Trump initially attempted to have it dismissed by claiming that current presidents were immune to civil suits in state court, a statement a Manhattan judge disregarded, allowing the case to continue.
“It does not appear that the White House directed the Justice Department to intercede in response to any new facts in this case,” Carroll’s lawyers wrote in the filing. Instead, they added, “the Justice Department intervened to shield Trump from legal accountability only after his state court stall tactics, procedural gambits, and assertions of immunity were all rejected.”
Despite criticism of the department’s involvement and clear indication that it was solely to protect Trump, Barr maintained that the department’s involvement was justified and outrage was only due to the current political climate. “The law is clear,” Barr said. “It is done frequently. And the little tempest that’s going on is largely because of the bizarre political environment in which we live.”
According to CNN, the Department of Justice has until Oct. 19 to respond to the filing and argument. Trump has continuously denied the dozens of allegations of assault against him, in addition to always going back on his word. He will never take accountability for his actions and will always expect others to help him clean up his mess—in this case taxpayers, who would pay his legal fees should he succeed in his substitution with the Department of Justice.
"Trump views his commercial dealings with Russia and China as personal, not presidential. He views blocking people from a platform on which he has fired Cabinet secretaries as personal, not presidential. Only in a world gone mad could it somehow be presidential, not personal, for Trump to slander a woman who he sexually assaulted," the filing read.