Amongst the slew of lawsuits and legal battles against twice-impeached, former President Donald Trump is the rape defamation case filed by columnist E. Jean Carroll. Last week, a federal appeals court heard the oral arguments in the suit, with the judge questioning the attorney regarding the former president’s comments.
A federal appeals court in New York heard oral arguments on whether the Justice Department should take over the defense of the former president in the lawsuit by Carroll. Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a department store in the late 1990s. According to Buzzfeed News, federal judge Denny Chin, an Obama appointee, questioned the former president’s attorney Alina Habba on Trump’s comments that led to the defamation case.
Habba argued that Trump’s comments were made in part of his official duties as president at the time. Chin then questioned how such comments in response to Carroll’s accusation were part of his presidential duties.
“Who is he serving when he says something like ‘She’s not my type?’ Is he serving the United States of America when he makes that statement?” questioned the judge.
Habba reportedly replied that Trump had to make the comments in response to the accusation “to the extent that it affected his ability to serve.”
The Justice Department announced back in June that it would take over the case to serve as the former president’s defense. The DOJ requested the court to stay all the proceedings but was denied back in September.
Even during his presidency, Trump was already caught up in another scandal related to possible Russian interference in the 2016 elections in which he won. The DOJ recently found a document titled “Alternative Mueller Report,” and its officials are currently reviewing the contents before a likely public release in 2022.
Politico reported last week that Andrew Weissman, who was a top deputy to special counsel Robert Mueller, revealed in a book he published in 2020 that the team he led provided a summary of their work, and some of its contents did not make it to the final report in 2019. Following a Freedom of Information Lawsuit by the New York Times, assistant US attorney Jennifer Jude wrote in a letter that the DOJ found and is currently reviewing the documents.