Former President Donald Trump lashed out at the Department of Justice rejecting claims of presidential immunity in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll.
The DOJ declined to certify that Trump was acting within his role as president when he made the comments Carroll claims are defamatory in a letter filed to the court on Tuesday. Trump responded to that action by accusing the DOJ of engaging in a larger "political witch hunt."
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"The DOJ will not defend me in the E. Jean Carroll civil case, which is all part of the political Witch Hunt, lawyered up by a political operative who I just beat in another case, financed by a big political funder, and “judged” by a Clinton appointee who truly hates “TRUMP.” The statements that I made about Carroll are all true. I didn’t Rape her (I won that at trial) and other than for this case, I have NO IDEA WHO SHE IS, WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE, OR ANYTHING ABOUT HER," Trump said Wednesday in a Truth Social post.
Carroll accused Trump of raping her at Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City in the mid-1990s. Trump has denied these claims. In response to Trump's denials of the incident, Carroll filed two lawsuits against Trump in 2019 and 2022. The 2019 lawsuit accuses him of defamation, while the 2022 lawsuit accused Trump of defamation and battery under New York's Adult Survivors Act.
In a follow-up post to Truth Social, Trump renewed his claims that the 2022 defamation lawsuit by Carroll, where a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape, and awarded Carroll roughly $5 million in damages, was a "total scam."
"The Carroll civil case against me is a Miscarriage of Justice and a total Scam. The trial was very unfair, with the other side being able to do and present virtually anything they wanted, and our side being largely and wrongfully shut down by an absolutely hostile, biased, and out of control judge. My lawyers, due to their respect for the Office of the President and the incredulity of the case, did not want me to testify, or even be at the trial," Trump said.
In a third Truth Social post regarding the lawsuit, he said that he is "strongly appealing this travesty of justice."
"The net result of this horrible INJUSTICE, where a completely unknown to me woman made up a ridiculous story, wrote it in a book to increase publicity and sales, I correctly disputed the story and got sued for Defamation, whereupon a hostile Judge and Jury shockingly awarded a woman who I don’t know, have never known, and don’t want to know, $5,000,000, while at the same time throwing out the Fake Rape claim. WE ARE STRONGLY APPEALING THIS TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE!!!" Trump said.
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Trump filed a countersuit over comments Carroll made on CNN in May in which she claimed that Trump had raped her despite a jury rejecting the rape claim.
Carroll's lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Trump's counterclaim, arguing that it was a "tit for tat" designed to "spin" for the former president's loss in the trial.