the doj’s reversal on the westfall act exemption removes a final barrier to a defamation trial set for january, one of at least four trump faces in the next year as he campaigns for a return to the white house in 2024.
new york state’s $250 million fraud suit against trump and his company is set for trial in october, while a criminal case by special counsel jack smith accusing trump of withholding classified documents could go to a jury as soon as december. the manhattan district attorney’s case accusing trump of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment is set for trial in march.
in its letter tuesday, the justice department concluded there isn’t enough evidence to find that trump was acting within the scope of his employment as president when he allegedly defamed carroll.
“here, although the statements themselves were made in a work context, the allegations that prompted the statements related to a purely personal incident: an alleged sexual assault that occurred decades prior to mr. trump’s presidency,” the us said. “that sexual assault was obviously not job-related.”
carroll’s lawyer roberta kaplan said they were pleased the government reconsidered.
“we have always believed that donald trump made his defamatory statements about our client in june 2019 out of personal animus, ill will, and spite, and not as president of the united states,” she said.