June 19 (UPI) -- An appeals court on Wednesday ruled against the Justice Department's attempt to replace President Donald Trump as the defendant in a multimillion-dollar defamation case.
Trump is fighting a 2023 defamation judgment ordering him to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for denying that he sexually assaulted her at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s.
Though the president denies the assault, he was found liable for sexual abuse and then for defaming her by denying the assault after she made it public.
The Department of Justice had asked the court for permission to substitute itself as the defendant in the appeal under the Westfall Act, a mechanism that allows the United States to defend claims against federal officers and employees when the alleged offense occurred within the scope of their duties.
Related
Federal prosecutors argued that Trump was president during his first term in 2017 when he first denied sexually abusing Carroll.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its denial of the Justice Department's request in a brief order Wednesday stating: "The Court will issue an opinion detailing its reasoning in due course."
The ruling is the latest setback in Trump's fight against paying Carroll the judgement.
Late last week, the same court rejected Trump's attempt to get a retrial challenging the $5 million civil judgement he was ordered by a jury to pay Carroll.
Trump has long accused the Justice Department of being politically weaponized against him, and a spokesperson for his legal team issued a statement Wednesday rejecting the ruling.
"The American People are supporting President Trump in historic numbers, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoaxes, the defense of which the Attorney General has determined is legally required to be taken over by the Department of Justice because Carroll based her false claims on the President's official acts, including statements from the White House," the spokesperson said, The Hill reported.
