Trump Says He Maligned Rape Accuser to Maintain Americans’ Trust

Erik Larson
·3 min read
2.5k
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

(Bloomberg) -- Former President Donald Trump urged the District of Columbia’s highest local court to adopt his argument that he was acting in the interests of the American people when he made allegedly defamatory remarks while denying a rape claim by New York author E. Jean Carroll.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Trump’s comments -- including his claim that Carroll fabricated the assault in order to sell a book and that she’d “made this charge against others” -- are protected under federal law because he was acting within the scope of his employment, his lawyer Alina Habba said in a filing Wednesday.

“More than any other public official, the President is expected to respond to questions from the media that affect his ability to maintain the trust of the American people,” Habba said in the filing. “Responding to accusations involving personal matters that may affect his ability to perform his job duties is clearly within the scope of such employment.”

The case is moving toward a possible trial even as Trump, who was deposed last month, weighs a second run for the White House in 2024. The DC Court of Appeals, which agreed to expedite its narrow role in the case, will hold oral arguments on the matter on Jan. 10.

Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, declined to comment on Trump’s brief.

Read More: Trump Was US Employee When He Denied Rape Claim, Court Rules

The Biden administration has sided with Trump on the case. On Wednesday, the Justice Department said in a brief with the court that similar cases back Trump’s argument that his comments were made in his official capacity.

The court should hold “that an elected federal official’s scope of employment includes communicating with the press and constituents on matters of public concern, including allegations bearing on the official’s fitness for public office,” the DOJ said.

The question of whether Trump’s comments qualified as a government duty was referred to the DC court by the federal appeals court in Manhattan. That court sided with Trump on another key question: whether a president qualifies as a government employee under the Westfall Act, a federal law that protects US government workers from civil suits related to their jobs.

If Carroll prevails in DC, the case will proceed to trial in federal court in Manhattan.

Trump has strenuously denied Carroll’s claim that he raped her more than two decades ago in a department store dressing room in Manhattan. The argument that Trump’s remarks about Carroll “were motivated by self-interest or malice” is inconsequential, Habba said, because Trump was doing his job.

In her Wednesday brief, Habba asked the appeals court to adopt a precedent set by a 2003 suit against the late North Carolina congressman Cass Ballenger over comments he made to a reporter comparing a Muslim nonprofit to the “fund-raising arm” of a terrorist group. In that case, the court held that Ballenger was protected by the Westfall Act and that his comments qualified as official duties. Habba argues Trump’s case is no different.

(Updates with filing from Justice Department backing Trump’s argument.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.