Hearing in rape claim defamation case against Trump called off after DOJ lawyer barred from court over New York’s Covid restrictions

The judge denied that request, and gave the DOJ three options for the hearing: Have Lane argue via telephone, have another lawyer make the arguments in person, or drop the planned hearing and rest their case on already submitted court filings.

Lane told Kaplan the DOJ was picking the third option.

Carroll was in the courtroom for the brief proceeding. Her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said she was disappointed by the DOJ’s decision not to argue its position, given the fact that Carroll had traveled some distance to attend.

Attorney General William Barr has said that the White House asked the DOJ to intervene in the lawsuit.

Barr also has said that U.S. taxpayers — and not Trump — will be responsible for any monetary damages awarded Carroll, if she proves her claims against the president, and if a judge agrees to allow the Department of Justice to handle the case.

Carroll’s lawyer Kaplan blasted the DOJ in a statement.

“Today, the Court was scheduled to hear argument in a case against Donald Trump for slandering E. Jean Carroll after she revealed that he sexually assaulted her before taking office. The Justice Department has attempted to block this case at taxpayer expense by arguing that Trump was acting within the scope of his employment as President when he repeatedly defamed Carroll.”

“But when given an opportunity by Judge Kaplan to present oral argument, DOJ declined to do so —even after the judge told them that this would result in the waiver of their newly raised arguments (which is to say, most of their case). This is unquestionably a new low for DOJ, which should at least appear in open court to answer for the outrageous positions that it has taken here. We remain confident that the Court will deny the Justice Department’s motion and we look forward to pursuing Ms. Carroll’s case in federal court.”

Carroll sued Trump for defamation in New York state court in Manhattan last November.

“Decades ago, the now President of the United States raped me. When I had the courage to speak out about the attack, he defamed my character, accused me of lying for personal gain, even insulted my appearance. No woman should have to face this,” Carroll said at the time.

“But this lawsuit is not only about me,” she said. “I am filing this on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed and belittled.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/21/trump-rape-case-doj-seeks-to-intervene-in-suit-by-e-jean-carroll-.html