E. Jean Carroll asks Court of Appeals to reject Trump’s immunity

E Jean Carroll and Donald Trump

columnist E. Jean Carrolls Lawyers asked an appeals court to reject the performance of this former president donald trump made his efforts to “discredit and destroy” her as part of his employment.

In a 64-page legal meagerCarroll’s attorney Robert Kaplan told the DC Court of Appeals Trump acted on “personal reasons” in telling reporters Carroll was “not my type” to deny he raped her at a Bergdorf Goodman’s in the mid-1990s.

“In June 2019, E. Jean Carroll revealed that former President Donald J. Trump had sexually assaulted her decades earlier,” Carroll’s attorney said Robert Kaplan the DC Court of Appeals said Thursday. “Although Trump denied it, he didn’t stop there. He launched a series of vicious personal attacks. He implied that she was too ugly to rape; that she had falsely accused other men of sexual assault; and that she made up her story for money, or to sell books, or to promote a political conspiracy. None of this was true. Trump knew who Carroll was when he attacked her, he knew who she was in 2019, and he knew what he was doing as he raged to punish and humiliate her for daring to be his decade-old to uncover crimes.”

Carroll filed her defamation lawsuit later this year, but before a jury can rule on her case, the courts must determine whether Trump has civil immunity for statements he made during his presidency. That question now turns to whether Trump made these remarks to reporters as part of the duties of his office — or for his own reasons.

Both under Attorneys General Bill Barr and Merrick garlandthe Justice Department argued that Trump should be immunized from Carroll’s lawsuit for speaking to reporters about a matter of public concern.

For Carroll’s legal team, this position is far too sweeping.

“This categorical position completely rules out any possibility that an elected federal official could act out of purely (or crucially) personal motives while speaking publicly — no matter how private the subject, no matter how relentless and inflammatory the official’s remarks, how manifestly divorced from any governmental matter, or as clearly consistent with that official’s past personal conduct,” reads the legal document. “Trump and the DOJ argue that public statements are always within the scope of an official’s employment because they may otherwise affect his perceived suitability for the office. On that basis, Trump and the DOJ are asking this court to promulgate and grant a doctrine of categorical immunity for public officials blank power of attorney to use the public platform inherent in her office to defame any private individual – anywhere, anytime, for any reason.”

More than 25 women have accused former President Trump of sexual misconduct, and in his public denial of Carroll’s allegations, their attorneys find the same “modus operandi” played out in a strikingly familiar style.

“Put simply, Trump’s attacks on Carroll did not reflect anything unique to his high office, nor did they stem from an overtly presidential consideration,” the letter reads. “Rather, they followed directly from a modus operandi goes back decades into his life as a private citizen.”

For Trump, Carroll argued that his comments were not about defending his fitness for high office.

“This strong consistency over time supports the conclusion that Trump’s efforts to destroy and discredit Carroll was simply his reaction to any woman who accused him of sexual abuse; they had nothing to do with federal purposes,” the brief said.

Whatever the DC Court of Appeals decides on the issue of Trump’s immunity from the 2019 defamation lawsuits, Carroll’s lawsuit against the former president will almost certainly face a jury next April if the parties disagree. On Thanksgiving, Carroll filed a new federal complaint alleging sexual assault claims against Trump under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year lookback window for claims otherwise barred by the statute of limitations.

Carroll also sued Trump for defamation for his similar attack against her, which was posted on Truth Social.

Read Carroll’s latest legal letter here.

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