Former President Donald Trump has expressed his discontent with the Department of Justice (DoJ) after the federal agency concluded that he is not immune from a $10 million defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump once again accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the DoJ against him. This came shortly after the department sent a letter to his lawyers stating that his previous comments as president, denying allegations of sexual assault by Carroll, could not be considered within the scope of his official duties.
The defamation lawsuit, filed in 2019, is separate from the civil case where a New York jury held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her character while denying the accusations.
The DoJ’s decision means that they will not intervene as the defendant, effectively allowing Carroll’s case to proceed against Trump personally. The former president now faces the risk of being found liable for defamation once again.
In the letter to Trump’s lawyers, the DoJ stated that his comments appeared to stem from a “personal grievance” against Carroll, thus falling outside the purview of his official responsibilities, reported Newsweek.
Trump responded on Truth Social, accusing the “Crooked Joe Biden’s Targeted, Weaponized DOJ & FBI” of being a threat to democracy and engaging in election interference. He expressed concern over the situation happening in America and called for it to be stopped.
The lawsuit, which the DoJ now says Trump is not immune from, focuses on comments he made in 2019 while in the White House, including stating that Carroll was not his type. Following the favorable ruling in the sexual battery lawsuit, Carroll amended the 2019 suit to include Trump’s derogatory remarks about her.
Despite previous statements from both the Trump and Biden administrations that Trump was acting within his official capacity when denying Carroll’s allegations, the DoJ now claims that the “prior history” between Carroll and Trump suggests his statements were motivated by personal grievances rather than serving the government.
The DoJ’s ruling means that they will not substitute the United States as a defendant in the lawsuit, making it clear that they will not intervene to make the case go away.
