{"id":1662448,"date":"2022-09-28T12:24:39","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T16:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1662448"},"modified":"2022-09-28T12:24:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T16:24:55","slug":"trump-emerges-victorious-in-vicious-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-emerges-victorious-in-vicious-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Emerges Victorious in Vicious Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-emerges-victorious-in-vicious-lawsuit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1662448&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A federal appeals court in Manhattan handed former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> a procedural victory Tuesday in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-defamation\">defamation<\/a> lawsuit, after famed columnist E. Jean Carroll claimed that Trump had raped her in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>In a two-to-one decision on Sept. 27, the panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court erred when it ruled that Carroll could sue Trump for defamatory statements during his presidency, given that a federal law, known as the Westfall Act, shields government employees from liability in work-related incidents.<\/p>\n<p>Carroll, 78, sued Trump in 2019, claiming the Republican sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan. Because the alleged attack happened decades ago, Carroll was originally barred from suing over sexual battery, pushing her to sue for defamation over allegedly disparaging comments Trump made about the rape allegation.<\/p>\n<p>Trump denied her allegation at the time and accused her of using false claims as a way to promote her book. \u201cI\u2019ll say it with great respect: Number one, she\u2019s not my type. Number two, it never happened,\u201d the-then president told <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/administration\/450116-trump-vehemently-denies-e-jean-carroll-allegation-shes-not-my-type\">The Hill<\/a> in an interview at the White House in June 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The D.C. Court of Appeals is now asked to weigh in on whether Trump was acting within the scope of his presidential duties when he denied raping Carroll and dismissed her\u00a0during the interview. If Trump was, he would be entitled to immunity from the lawsuit, according to the ruling by the 2nd Circuit judges. And while the U.S. government can be sued over some wrongdoing by its employees, it is immune from defamation lawsuits, which would mean Carroll\u2019s suit would fail.<\/p>\n<p>In a majority opinion written by Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi on Tuesday, two members of the 2nd Circuit\u2019s three-judge panel declined to further address the defamation action while the matter was \u201cof extreme public importance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do not pass judgment or express any view as to whether Trump\u2019s public statements were indeed defamatory or whether the sexual assault allegations had, in fact, occurred,\u201d the judges said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3493143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09\/e-jean-carroll-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3493143\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2020\/09\/09\/e-jean-carroll-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> E. Jean Carroll talks to reporters outside a courthouse in New York on March 4, 2020. (Seth Wenig, File\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<p>Trump\u2019s lawyer Alina Habba, meanwhile, welcomed the decision, saying it \u201cwill protect the ability of all future presidents to effectively govern without hindrance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are confident that the D.C. Court of Appeals will find that our client was acting within the scope of his employment when properly repudiating Ms. Carroll\u2019s allegations,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Former Attorney General\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/mkt_app\/ag-barr-defends-doj-intervention-into-e-jean-carroll-suit-against-trump_3495055.html\">William Barr<\/a> and current Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the Department of Justice\u2019s decision to back Trump\u00a0as a defendant in the ongoing defamation case.<\/p>\n<h2>Dissent<\/h2>\n<p>In an opinion written by Judge Denny Chin, the third judge who dissented, he said that the law protecting federal employees from liability does not apply to Trump. He said it was only to protect low-level, rank-and-file government employees rather than the president.<\/p>\n<p>And he said at least some of the former president\u2019s statements were not part of his official duties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump was not acting in the scope of his employment when he made comments about Carroll and her accusations because he was not serving any purpose of the federal government,\u201d wrote the judge, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the context of an accusation of rape, the comment \u2018she\u2019s not my type\u2019 surely is not something one would expect the President of the United States to say in the course of his duties. Carroll\u2019s allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser, not the United States\u2019 \u2018chief constitutional officer\u2019 engaging in \u2018supervisory and policy responsibilities of utmost discretion and sensitivity,\u2019\u201d Chin added.<\/p>\n<p>Endorsing Chin\u2019s dissenting opinion, Carroll\u2019s lawyer Roberta Kaplan also said she was \u201cconfident\u201d that the D.C. appeals court would agree that Trump\u2019s statements were unrelated to his job.<\/p>\n<p>However, chances remain that the legal fight over whether Trump or the U.S. government should be the defendant in the case could become moot.\u00a0Carroll\u2019s lawyer alerted a Manhattan federal court judge in August that she plans to file a new lawsuit against Trump when New York\u2019s Adult Survivor\u2019s Act takes effect on Nov. 24. The new law offers a one-year \u201cwindow\u201d during which time adult survivors of sexual attacks are able to bring civil claims when they otherwise would be barred by time requirements.<\/p>\n<p>That would mean Carroll could sue Trump over the original rape allegation, which happened long before he became president.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-rita-li\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/default-user.png\" alt=\"Rita Li\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rita Li is a reporter with The Epoch Times, focusing on U.S. and China-related topics. She began writing for the Chinese-language edition in 2018.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal appeals court in Manhattan handed former President Donald Trump a procedural victory Tuesday in a defamation lawsuit, after famed columnist E. Jean Carroll claimed that Trump had raped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1662448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1662448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1662448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1662448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}