Trump might be protected from E. Jean Carroll lawsuit, court rules
CBSN
An appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department may be able to shield former President Donald Trump from a 2019 defamation suit filed by author E. Jean Carroll.
The court ruled Tuesday that as an employee of the federal government, the president is protected from certain lawsuits. Trump's attorneys had been joined by attorneys with the Justice Department in arguing that the president is protected from certain lawsuits by the Westfall Act, which shields federal employees from suits related to their work.
The author filed the lawsuit in 2019, while Trump was still president and after he accused her of "totally lying" when she said he sexually assaulted her in a high-end New York City department store in the 1990s. In October 2021, a federal judge in New York ruled that Trump was not shielded from Carroll's suit.
