A federal appeals court panel on Tuesday asked D.C.’s highest court to decide whether Donald Trump was acting within the scope of his job as president when he denied a rape allegation dating back to the 1990s — a pivotal question that will determine whether the woman can keep pursuing a defamation lawsuit against him.
In a partial victory for Trump, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned portions of a federal judge’s previous ruling allowing columnist E. Jean Carroll to pursue a defamation case against Trump over his denials of her rape allegation.
But the panel punted on the key question of whether the denials were made as part of Trump’s official duties, asking the local court in the nation’s capital to make that decision. If the D.C. Appeals Court agrees that the denials were part of Trump’s job, that will probably end the litigation, because the U.S. government cannot be targeted by defamation lawsuits.
Carroll wrote in 2019 that Trump had forced himself on her in a Bergdorf Goodman’s dressing room in New York in late 1995 or early 1996. She is one of many women who have accused the former president of sexual assault. Trump responded to the allegation by saying that Carroll was “totally lying” and “not my type.” He also has denied the other women’s allegations.
Carroll sued Trump for defamation in New York state court. The case initially proceeded slowly, as Trump argued that he was engaged in free speech, that he couldn’t be...
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