A federal judge blocked the Justice Department from throwing out a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump filed by journalist E. Jean Carroll, who claims he raped her in a department store in the ’90s.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan said the Justice Department could not defend the President, as he is not a federal employee. She may now move ahead and sue Trump as a private citizen.
Trump has denied the rape allegations.
“There were numerous cases where women were paid money to say bad things about me,” he said at the time. “No. 1, she’s not my type.”
“Accepting (the argument) would mean that a president is free (to) defame anyone who criticizes his conduct or impugns his character — without adverse consequences to that president and no matter what injury he inflects in the person defamed,” Judge Kaplan wrote in an order.
[social_warfare]