Biden's Justice Department follows Trump's lead in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

The Justice Department is continuing to try to substitute for former President Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.

A lawsuit against Donald Trump by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll is dragging on as President Joe Biden's Department of Justice follows in the footsteps of the prior administration by seeking to substitute for Trump as the defendant in the case. 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. In a brief filed Monday, the current DOJ asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to overturn a district court judge who ruled that Trump’s statements about Carroll and her rape claim were not made as part of his official duties. That October ruling said Trump couldn’t use a law protecting federal employees from certain lawsuits because his comments were made outside of his official work.