:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7XKHYKW2BCV6KPZ6PZWWYSPMSA.jpg)
The US Department of Justice has reversed its position on defending Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by the writer E Jean Carroll, paving the way for a possible trial in January.
The department said in a court filing on Tuesday that it could no longer conclude Mr Trump was acting in his capacity as president when he made allegedly defamatory statements about Ms Carroll in 2019.
The former Elle magazine columnist alleges that she was sexually assaulted by Mr Trump in a New York department store in 1996, a claim that he dismissed as “a complete con job”.
Ms Carroll (79) has already won a second case against Mr Trump over comments he made after he left the White House. In May, a New York jury found that Mr Trump was liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and ordered him to pay her $5 million (€900,000) in damages.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7QXOW2EYKZUO665GFAH6VOZNSU.jpg)
:quality(70):focal(2159x510:2169x520)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/E5NCL5CHQOCVCDVGDXNFCJMRSI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/DAUWY3JKCL3QPV5WNYOW33KMOY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/S4UBXHCSUCSMFV7JARGYEQXKYU.jpg)
Mr Trump has sought to delay the first defamation lawsuit by claiming that he should be granted immunity because he made the comments while speaking to the media as president.
At first, the justice department – under Mr Trump and Joe Biden – agreed with that view.
But in the filing on Tuesday, US lawyers cited the jury’s verdict, Mr Trump’s October deposition and new claims Ms Carroll has since made that Mr Trump defamed her again with comments he made during a CNN town hall a day after the verdict.
They said the new evidence suggested “that Mr Trump was motivated by a ‘personal grievance’ stemming from events that occurred many years prior to Mr. Trump’s presidency”, the New York Times reported.
Tuesday’s reversal leaves Mr Trump (77) legally exposed to further damages and forced to rely on his own legal team rather than one from the government.
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer for Ms Carroll, welcomed the decision. “We are grateful that the Department of Justice has reconsidered its position,” she said in a statement.
A spokesman for Mr Trump, said the step showed that the justice department under Joe Biden was “politically weaponizing the justice system” against Mr Trump. He dismissed the department’s move as “a partisan sham”.
Ms Carroll is seeking $10 million in damages in the first suit. A January 15th, 2024, trial is scheduled before the US district judge Lewis Kaplan, who handled the earlier trial. He is not related to Roberta Kaplan. – Guardian