Former President Donald Trump seemingly can’t assert presidential immunity in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, a U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday via Fox News.
It has been noted that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a federal judge’s decision not to allow Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in the case. This prompted the former president’s legal team to seek a review from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The Second Circuit’s ruling is fundamentally flawed and we will seek immediate review from the Supreme Court,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s lawyers in the case. The appeal was heard on an expedited basis, ahead of his scheduled trial on Jan. 16.
It is noted in the lawsuit that Carroll is seeking at least $10 million in damages from Trump over comments he made about her in June 2019, during his presidential term in the White House.
Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, initially accused Trump of rape and sexual assault in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. In response, the former president denied ever knowing Carroll and said she made up the rape claim for attention. She then sued in November 2019.
In December last year, Trump asserted presidential immunity shielded him from the lawsuit. The president’s unique office grants him complete immunity from many types of civil lawsuits while in office. This delay, however, was ultimately cited by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan when he rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss Carroll’s case and refused to let Trump raise an immunity defense.
Trump has pursued similar immunity defenses in his federal criminal case in Washington, where he is accused of inciting a riot, disrupting an official proceeding and for unlawfully trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
