Trump lawyers argue US government should take his place in a defamation lawsuit filed by rape accuser E Jean Carroll, reports say
Eva Deitch/Getty Images (L), Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images (R).
- Trump attorneys argued that the US government should replace him as defendant in a defamation case.
- The lawsuit was filed by rape accuser E Jean Carroll after Trump said that she was lying and "not my type."
- Attorneys said he was not dodging personal liability, but wanted to defend future presidents from legal claims.
Lawyers of former President Donald Trump argued on Friday that the US government should take his place as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by rape accuser E Jean Carroll, reports say.
The argument, made before a federal appeals court, hinges upon the claim that Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he made remarks about Carroll to the media, the Associated Press reported.
In 2019, columnist E Jean Carroll published an account accusing Trump of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Carroll said she met Trump in the luxury Manhattan department store, and agreed to help him select a present for a girl after he asked her for advice. She wrote that Trump assaulted her after entering a dressing room with him inside the store.
"The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips," she wrote. "The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I'm not certain — inside me. It turns into a colossal struggle."
She sued him for defamation in federal court in November 2019 after he denied the allegations and said Carroll was "not my type" and accused her of fabricating the story to sell more books.
The former president's attorneys told judges that he was not trying to dodge personal liability but that he wants to keep future presidents from being burdened by legal claims, The Guardian reported.
"This is not about being a Democrat or a Republican. It is solely to protect the presidency as an institution," Trump attorney Alina Habba said, according to the outlet.
Federal law makes it difficult to sue US government employees for actions relating to their jobs.
If the court accepts the argument that Trump was acting as a government worker when he made the comments about Carroll, it could lead to the dismissal of the case.
According to AP, judges posed multiple questions on Friday about the private and public conduct of the commander-in-chief.
They also questioned whether presidents should constantly mind their language for fear of legal responsibility.
Habba claimed that Trump was "on the defensive" because Carroll's accusations essentially questioned his fitness for office, the outlet said.
Carroll's lawyers argued that Trump's response went beyond any job obligation.
"A White House job is not a promise of an unlimited prerogative to brutalize someone who was a victim of a prior attack," attorney Joshua Matz said, according to AP.
Justice Department lawyer Mark Freeman told the court on Friday that he wasn't out to "defend or justify" Trump's "crude and offensive" comments.
"I'm here because any president facing a public accusation of this kind, with the media very interested, would feel obliged to answer questions from the public, answer questions from the media," Freeman said, according to the outlet.