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FORMER US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s claims that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shield him from the defamation claims of a New York columnist have been rejected by a federal judge.
The writer, E. Jean Carroll, can continue to press claims that Trump owes her at least $10 million in damages for comments he made before and after she won a five million dollar sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him last month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a written opinion.
Trump tried to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that he is entitled to absolute presidential immunity, that his statements were not defamatory, and that his statements were opinion protected by free speech rights.
Kaplan said Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defence by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was filed.
The lawsuit was delayed until recently as appeals courts considered legal issues surrounding it.
Trump countersued Carroll this week, claiming she has libelled him by continuing to insist he raped her even after a jury found otherwise.
After a jury returned its verdict last month in Manhattan federal court, Trump made comments on a CNN town hall that prompted Carroll to assert new defamation claims in a 2020 defamation lawsuit.
The jury award resulted from a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit filed last November after New York state temporarily enacted a law allowing sexual assault victims to sue for damages resulting from attacks that occurred even decades earlier.
Trump’s claims in the CNN broadcast mirrored statements he made while president in 2019 when Carroll published a memoir in which she claimed he raped her in the dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store in spring 1996.
Within hours of excerpts from the book being published in a magazine, Trump denied a rape occurred or that he ever knew Carroll.
“Mr Trump did not merely deny Ms Carroll’s accusation of sexual assault,” Mr Kaplan wrote.
“Instead, he accused Ms Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity and/or carry out a political agenda.”
The judge said the main purpose of presidential immunity is to avoid diverting the president from public duties, but it was not a “get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that permits the president to say or do anything he or she desires even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function”.
Kaplan said he took into consideration that Carroll is now 79 years old and has pursued claims against Trump for three-and-a-half years.
“There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr Trump to raise his absolute immunity defence now at the 11th hour when he could have done so years ago,” he said.
In rejecting claims that Carroll’s lawsuit was about protected speech, Kaplan explained how libel and slander are handled in the courts and why Trump’s statements could be construed to fit the legal definition for defamation, including that a jury had already found it so.
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately comment.
Robbie Kaplan, who represents Carroll and is unrelated to the judge, said in a statement the judge’s ruling “confirms that once again, Donald Trump’s supposed defences to E. Jean Carroll’s defamation claims don’t work”.
She added: “Today’s decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jean’s defamation damages in this case.”
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Almost a daily occurrence at this stage….sad stuff!
@Brian McMahon:
Don’t know why you’re getting red thumbs, Brian.
Mass shootings are an almost daily occurrence in the US now.
No Brinster, they’re not. The vast majority of “mass shootings” are gangs taking pot shots at one another with illegal firearms. School shootings are comparatively quite rare which is why they make the news.
@Jason Culligan: once off or single killings involve 7 to 10 shootings per day of children. Over 2,000 children per year are sacrificed on the altar of the 2nd Amendment.
Most gangs engage in single killings at a time, not multiple homocides.
Mass shootings do not happen every day. You should be able to clearly distinguish between someone who intentionally goes out to shoot innocents and between gangs shooting at each other. Why would you put them all in the same category?
This is not totally but almost exclusively happening in the USA and in my opinion the blame falls squarely on the shoulders on the majority of the legislators and politicians in general. The gun laws need to be changed with real radical and imposing leadership. And screw the nra
“screw the nra” the NRA is one of the biggest citizens lobby groups in America. American voters make up their membership (5 million + Americans) and they have every right to join any lobby group of their choice in a democracy.
@James Odin:
Exactly.
The liberal argument against gun ownership is at the point of absurdity now.
‘Guns are evil – ban guns’
Simplistic and weightless.
People always blame the guns but maybe it’s the virulent dog-eat-dog culture in America that is really causing this. If US bullying culture is as prevalent as shown, it isn’t all that surprising that some students lose the plot. Access to guns merely raises the death toll or makes it easier for weak kids to inflict horror.
” Merchants of death, terrorist group, crazy Christian terrorists ” – only a complete fool would call for the death of gun owning Christians while the country is being regularly attacked by Islamic terrorists. A gun is an inanimate object. I never hear people call for a ban on knives when there is a mass stabbing.
On average 7 kids a day shot dead in the US
How many of them are due to irresponsible gun owners leaving firearms out in the open? Mandatory training would solve the vast majority of those cases.
@Jason Culligan: with 350 million guns, it is inevitable that children will always obtain access to guns. Remember that we are dealing with gun owners. This would not be a segment of the population which consists entirely of sane, sensible, responsible and conscientious persons.
@ Jaso,” Mandatory training ” like what..maybe call it common sense, keep it where nobody else will find it, but “USA” is so full of parnoia…how do dislodge that phobia.
Paranoia
Who gives a toss anymore. Seriously. They like their guns..Let them at it.
Fair point but there are a lot of Americans that would prefer a country without the access to weapons that’s currently afforded. Gotta have sympathy for them and the threat they have to live under.
It’s quite obvious at this point that arming school teachers in America is the only way to stop these kinds of random attacks.
If disgruntled students know that all staff at the academy are carrying guns then they will be deterred from even attempting such a scenario.
Time for change.
Yeah more gun, just what’s needed.
@Sam Palmer:
You want school teachers in elementary (primary) schools to have guns?
And you think this will make things safer?
Christ.
You’re either a troll or an idiot Sam.
Or maybe a little of both.
I second that proposition Sam. It is clear that nothing else is working and you won’t in a million years be able to ban guns in America in totality. Training and arming teachers maybe the only real workable solution at this point.
@Brinster:
Teachers are responsible citizens, Arming them will carry no threat whatsoever to the public.
But it would certainly act as a deterrent to anyone thinking of going on the rampage in a school.
@James Odin:
Why stop at the teachers, James?
If we arm the children, then everyone will be deterred from messing with them, won’t they?
It’s all about the psychology.
@Sam
Ah – you’re a troll. No real person could be that stupid. Will ignore you in future.
@Brinster:
‘If we arm the children, then everyone will be deterred from messing with them, won’t they?’
What an utterly ridiculous argument.
Children are not responsible citizens, teachers are.
@Brinster:
No skin off my nose if you do. Arguing with anti gun people is a waste of time anyway.
Brinster, arming young children is beyond foolish although I sense you are being facetious. Teachers are trusted and responsible members of the community who have to undergo police vetting etc before starting a job so I cant see a problem in training and arming them to protect children. Alternatively perhaps they could invest in armed security guards or cops for protection.
Trollie troll troll. Trollista trollio troll. T-rollllll.
teaching is gone too far..if the kids dont want to learn then let them stay at home or on the streets or slums. simple as that
Actually there are 300 millions guns in America today, twice as many as in 1968.
Guns will never, I repeat, NEVER, be outlawed in America.
So you guys arguing against guns are pi** ing in the wind I’m afraid.
Correct. People who think they can confiscate every gun in circulation from American citizens are incredibly ignorant of the realities of the situation and are not serious about solving the problem.
@James Odin: But arguing for even more guns is hardly going to stem the chronic tide of gun violence now is it?.
Well that’s a ridiculous argument. Lawyers are responsible citizens and yet one of them committed a mass shooting a few days ago. Anyone can have a mental breakdown, especially if they are in a stressful job. I’m sure teaching can be stressful at times.
But surely Sam the very least that could be done is to have proper background checks done on those buying guns. There are measures that could and should be taken to try to stem the tide of every tom, dick and Harry being able to buy a gun. I don’t know how anyone could think that’s unreasonable.
Really? Was it not the son of a teacher in Sandy Hook Elementary who went on a shooting spree- with his mother’s guns!!
The police are “responsible citizens” and they never kill innocent people, do they. Bullets flying around a school would doubtlessly lead to more dead and injured students. Not to mention the possibility of a disgruntled student getting hold of a teachers gun. I have several friends who teach in the USA, one of them in Littleton Colorado, home of Columbine. Not one of them want to be armed and most would leave the profession if they were forced to. Teachers are paid to teach, a difficult enough job, not to be police.
Stupidity beyond belief. Are you really suggesting that as part of a teacher’s job description they should be forced to carry a gun and have a mentality that they would have no hesitation in shooting a student if they reach into their school bag for book Just in case it’s a gun. Isn’t that what the police do now if your black and reach onto your car? In case you are not aware 1) Not all people want to carry a gun and should not be forced to do so. 2) Gun have only two purposes one to seriously injure somebody or two kill somebody. And you think guns don’t kill and by having more guns Will solve the problem .lol Definitely a troll or a victim of the American education system.
Your stupidly is alarming. Yeah because all teachers are such straight up people that would never stab his wife and kids.
“A coroner has said that the students ‘ injuries do not appear to be life threatening”. Role of a coroner… “The coroner’s jurisdiction is limited to determining who the deceased was and how, when and where they came by their death. When the death is suspected to have been either sudden with unknown cause, violent, or unnatural, the coroner decides whether to hold a post-mortem examination and, if necessary, an inquest.” Why was a coroner commenting in the first place?
My thoughts exactly, no dead bodies so no reason for a coroner!
My thoughts exactly, no dead bodies so no reason to have coroner!
Ah, there’s two of you!!!
Pro-lifers support liberal access to guns.
@brinster good man I’m always ignoring the mentally deranged troll’s. Can’t imagine they have any friends in the real world it’s probably the only outlet they have. So maybe a bit of pity should be felt… But then again maybe not.
In a conflict between children with guns and pupils with guns, I think that the children will win because the children vastly out number the teachers and have the advantage of surprise and ambush.
Americans should start reporting news about days that no shootings happen. That will some as more of a shock that hearing this.
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