Justice Department comes to Trump’s defense over lawsuit by woman who accused him of rape
The department’s lawyers argue that the president’s denial occurred while he was exercising the functions of his position
The Justice Department said Wednesday that Donald Trump cannot be personally sued for denying a rape accusation since the president was doing his official job as president .
Government attorneys provided these arguments to defend Attorney General William Barr’s decision to intervene in a defamation lawsuit that writer E. Jean Carroll filed against the president in a New York court.
Carroll has said Trump raped her at a department store decades ago and later denied the attack and called her a liar , an accusation the writer believes damaged her reputation.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice consider that, although the allegation relates to an incident that occurred decades before Trump was president , its denial was an official act because it “addressed matters related to his qualification for the position as part of a response official of the White House to the questions of the press ”.
“Given the role of president in our constitutional structure, his role in communicating with the public is especially important,” the Justice Department wrote. “The president’s statements fall within the scope of his employment for various reasons,” he added.
Justice made the surprising decision on December 8 to try to intervene in the case despite the fact that it centers on an event that allegedly occurred in the 1990s, long before Trump was president.
