Former President Donald Trump was motivated “purely by personal vendetta” in 2019 when he publicly accused New York author E. Jean Carroll of fabricating an explosive claim that he raped her in the 1990s, Washington DC’s attorney general told an appeals court.

A defamation suit Carroll filed against Trump for attacking her motives, character and appearance hinges on whether his remarks fell within the scope of his job as president. DC Attorney General Karl Racine, who isn’t involved in the case, on Friday threw his weight behind Carroll, arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that Trump’s comments weren’t an official duty.

Trump “was acting to demean and tarnish the reputation of a woman who alleged he had assaulted her in his previous capacity as a private citizen, and was in no way acting to further the interests of the United States when he made the comments at issue in this case,” Racine said in a statement.

Finding otherwise, the Democrat argued, would upend decades of precedent in the city’s employment law and expose employers to more liability for their workers’ personal conduct.

If Carroll prevails in the district’s highest local court, where oral arguments are set for next month, her underlying suit against Trump will be allowed to proceed in federal court in Manhattan. A trial is tentatively set for April.

“Perhaps more than any other individual, a sitting President must be able to defend himself against false and heinous accusations in the public sphere,” Trump...

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