Trump to argue presidential immunity shields him from paying E. Jean Carroll damages
Former President Donald Trump is due in court Monday in the ongoing E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, and he's apparently planning to argue his former job prevents him from being held accountable in civil court.
Judge Lewis Kaplan previously allowed Carroll's $10 million defamation lawsuit against Trump to move forward in June. On Monday, ABC News reported that Trump is now going to argue before a federal appellate court panel that because he was President of the United States in 2019 — when he allegedly defamed Carroll — that he should be immune from having to pay any damages to the former Elle magazine columnist.
Carroll's lawsuit stems from a claim the former president made in 2019 that Carroll allegedly fabricated her accusation that Trump sexually assaulted her in a New York department store the 1990s so she could boost sales of her then-forthcoming book.
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"Defendant-Appellee's conduct is not properly the subject of a civil damages claim since his conduct is shielded by presidential immunity," Trump's legal team argued in a pre-hearing filing. "The District Court's rejection of this defense was clearly made in error; more importantly, this flawed decision will have wide-ranging implications which threaten to disrupt the separation of powers between the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch, and significantly diminish the latitude of protection afforded to all Presidents under the presidential immunity doctrine."
Trump has also used the presidential immunity argument to argue that he can't be held criminally accountable in Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the former president's role in the January 6 insurrection. Smith submitted a 54-page filing in US District Court last week countering that argument, citing previous prosecutions of presidents including Trump's 2021 impeachment trial, Bill Clinton's civil suit, and Richard Nixon's pardon.
In May, Trump was ordered by a Manhattan jury to pay Carroll $2 million in damages for sexual abuse, and $3 million in damages for defamation. The jury took less than three hours to reach a unanimous verdict.
READ MORE: Jack Smith just tore apart Trump's 'starting' absolute immunity argument
