Justice Dept. appeals to rep Don in private case

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lame-duck appeal Wednesday of a ruling it cannot represent President Trump in a defamation suit brought by New York City advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The move, Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan said, was yet another delay tactic in the case. Carroll claims Trump raped her two decades ago.

“We are not at all surprised that the current Department of Justice, which filed its motion to intervene in E. Jean Carroll’s case at the request of the White House, is appealing Judge Kaplan’s decision. From the very start of this case, Donald Trump’s No. 1 goal has been to avoid discovery and cause delay,” Kaplan said.

It’s not known if the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden will pursue the legal arguments supported by current U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.

“It remains to be seen whether the new Attorney General will agree that Trump was acting within the scope of his employment as President when he defamed our client. In any event, we are confident that the Second Circuit [Court of Appeals] will affirm the [U.S.] District Court’s comprehensive and well-reasoned opinion,” Kaplan said.

Carroll (photo) went public last year with allegations that Trump raped her inside a Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s. Trump responded by calling her a liar and declared she was “not my type.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled in October that Trump’s remarks were not part of his official duties as President – meaning that the Justice Department had no business representing him.

“While commenting on the operation of government is part of the regular business of the United States, commenting on sexual assault allegations unrelated to the operation of government is not,” Kaplan wrote.

Barr has said that if the Justice Department is allowed to rep Trump the case will be automatically dismissed due to legal protections for the government.

The notice of appeal filed by the Justice Department did not include new legal arguments. But it does raise the prospect of further delay in the case.

The Justice Department intervened in Carroll’s case, which was first filed in New York State court, in September. At that time, Carroll was seeking a DNA sample from Trump to determine if it matches unidentified male DNA on a dress she claims she wore during the alleged rape.

Carroll says she never washed or wore the dress after the assault, until she put it on for a photoshoot accompanying the filing of her lawsuit.