Justice Department To Defend Trump Rape Case

The Justice Department is carrying on an effort that began under former U.S. Attorney General William Barr while Trump was still in office.

Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for "crude and disrespectful" remarks he made about a woman who accused him of rape because he made the comments while he was president, U.S. Justice Department lawyers told an appeals court late Monday.   Responding to misconduct allegations is part of the president's job, the government's lawyers told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. As such, it is the United States itself — and not Trump — who should be the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in the mid-1990s in an upscale Manhattan department store.  In defending Trump in its filing Monday, the Justice Department is carrying on an effort that began under former U.S. Attorney General William Barr while Trump was still in office.