AG Garland defends DOJ decision to continue to back Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation case

Appearing Wednesday afternoon before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke publicly for the first time about the Justice Department's decision earlier this week to continue seeking to substitute for former President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll. Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s, which he has denied. She sued him in November 2019 for defamation after he called her a liar, denied meeting her and alleged she made up the claim to sell her new book at the time. The DOJ argued in a brief Monday that the Federal Tort Claims Act, a law that shields federal employees from individual damages claims, and the Westfall Act, which allows employees to be removed from lawsuits as defendants and replaced by the U.S. government, apply to Trump in the case. Carroll’s lead lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, slammed the move to overturn a district court judge's ruling as "legally and morally wrong." Asked by Sen. Pat Leahey, D-Vt., on Wednesday about criticisms of DOJ for not reversing the position taken by Trump's DOJ, Garland said the decision was based solely on the law and without any political considerations -- but added that he "knows about the criticisms."