Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll appears in court in defamation lawsuit

A judge will hear arguments on if the U.S. can take over for Trump in the suit.

October 21, 2020, 8:13 PM

• 4 min read

A federal judge will hear arguments Wednesday afternoon on whether the United States will be allowed to take over for President Donald Trump as a defendant in E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit.

The former Elle columnist, who appeared at the New York courthouse in person for the hearing, sued the president last year over his denial of her rape allegation. The president has denied ever meeting her.

The Department of Justice argued in a court filing last month that Trump was "acting within the scope of his office" at the time. Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued in a subsequent court filing this month that Trump is not covered by the Federal Tort Claims Act, which assumes liability for the wrongful acts of government employees.

E. Jean Carroll arrives at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, Oct. 21, 2020, in New York.

Before the hearing started, the judge denied a request from the DOJ to delay Wednesday's proceedings. The attorney set to make the government's case traveled to New York from Virginia, which requires a 14-day quarantine and thus could not access the Manhattan courthouse, the DOJ argued.

In denying the postponement, the judge gave the DOJ three options: find a substitute attorney, make the argument by phone or submit paperwork and forego oral argument. It appears the attorney will argue by phone.

Carroll, who served as an advice columnist at Elle magazine for more than 20 years, accused Trump last year of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s. She is suing him for defamation, arguing he damaged her reputation and career by denying her story and claiming she took money from political opponents to fabricate it.

Carroll's lawsuit was on the verge of the evidentiary stage before the Justice Department intervened and moved the case into federal court. A state court had rejected the president's argument that he's immune from Carroll's accusations, clearing the way for him to sit for a deposition.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Ocala International Airport on Oct. 16, 2020, in Ocala, Fla.

In a June 2019 interview with The Hill, the president said Carroll was "totally lying" about her accusation, adding, "I'll say it with great respect: No. 1, she's not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?"

Carroll's lawsuit asserts this statement, as well as two others made during the same time period, were false and defamatory.

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