Government lawyers made the unusual move of seeking to take over President Trump’s defense in a defamation suit brought by Ms. Carroll, who has claimed Mr. Trump raped her in the 1990s.
Alan Feuer in the New York Times –
In a highly unusual legal maneuver, the Department of Justice moved on Tuesday to replace President Trump’s private lawyers and defend him against a defamation lawsuit brought in state court by the author E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.
Lawyers for the Justice Department said in court papers that Mr. Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he denied ever knowing Ms. Carroll.
