The U.S. government can't be substituted for President Donald Trump as the defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by a New York advice columnist who claims Trump raped her two decades ago in a department store dressing room.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan on Tuesday is a setback for Trump. Had the judge allowed the substitution, it would have led to dismissal of the case because the government can't be sued for defamation. The suit was brought by E. Jean Carroll, who went public with her claim last year and sued Trump after he called her a politically motivated liar.
Kaplan ruled that Trump isn't an "employee" of the federal government for the purposes of the Federal Tort Claims Act, which allows the U.S. to replace government workers as defendants in lawsuits over actions taken as part of their job. Even if he were, his comment about Carroll can't be considered part of his presidential duties, the judge wrote.
"To conclude otherwise would require the Court to adopt a view that virtually everything the president does is within the public interest by virtue of his office," Kaplan said. "The government has provided no support for that theory, and the Court rejects it as too expansive."
Neither Carroll's lawyer nor the Justice Department immediately responded to messages seeking comment.
The judge said in his decision that resolving the case may eventually hinge on whether Carroll can prove she was attacked by Trump.
"The question whether Mr. Trump in fact raped Ms. Carroll appears to be at the heart of her lawsuit," Kaplan wrote. "That is so because the truth or falsity of a defendant's alleged defamatory statements can be dispositive of any defamation case."
The Justice Department moved Carroll's case from state court to federal court on Sept. 8 and took over Trump's defense after a state judge ruled that the president couldn't put off the suit any longer. Carroll called the move a delay tactic to avoid renewed demands for Trump to be deposed and submit to a DNA test during the final weeks before the presidential election.
Trump has long denied the allegations made by other women, claiming they were seeking attention or trying to smear his name for political reasons.
