The Department of Justice under Attorney General Bill Barr has moved to act as President Donald Trump’s attorney in a defamation lawsuit brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll, who says during the 1990’s when he was a private citizen Trump raped her in a Manhattan luxury goods store.
In an unprecedented move the DOJ has filed notice with a federal court that it will now represent the defendant, Donald J. Trump, Bloomberg News reports. Carroll alleges Trump defamed her and is asking the court to force the president to hand over his DNA.
Shockingly, the Dept. of Justice is arguing that Trump was acting within the scope of his job as President of the United States when he defamed Carroll.
“Because President Trump was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the plaintiff’s claim arose, the United States will file a motion to substitute itself for President Trump in this action,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark says in the motion.
Representing Carroll is noted attorney Robbie Kaplan, who successfully argued United States v. Windsor, the landmark Supreme Court same-sex marriage case that struck down a major portion of the Defense of Marriage Act.
Carroll took to Twitter Tuesday evening:
UPDATE: 7:47 PM ET –