The Department of Justice does not believe former President Donald Trump was immune from civil action as a public official when he allegedly made defamatory statements against author E. Jean Carroll in 2019 and will therefore not defend him.
The decision marks a U-turn for the DOJ, which had previously defended Mr. Trump in a lawsuit filed against him by Ms. Carroll in 2019.
She accused the then-president of defaming her when he denied having raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.
In its previous decision, the DOJ had cited the Westfall Act, which protects federal workers from common law tort lawsuits when they are engaged in the duties of their jobs, and said Mr. Trump was acting in the scope of his employment as president when he made a series of public statements denying he raped Ms. Carroll….