Appeals court weighs whether Justice Department should substitute for Trump in defamation suit
ABC News
An appeals court peppered DOJ attorneys Friday with questions over whether it's appropriate for the DOJ to defend Donald Trump against E. Jean Carroll's defamation suit.
A federal appeals court on Friday peppered the Justice Department with questions over whether it's appropriate for the department to substitute for former President Donald Trump in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 after he denied raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. Trump claimed Carroll wasn't his type and made up the story to sell a new book.
The Justice Department is appealing the ruling of U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who in October rejected the DOJ's bid to replace Trump as the defendant in the case.
The DOJ's Mark Freeman conceded during arguments on Friday that "the former president made crude and offensive comments" when he responded to Carroll's rape accusation, but that he spoke in his capacity as president, therefore allowing the U.S. government to take over as the defendant, shielding Trump from personal liability.
