He’s not her type
Awww Donnie wanted to make it that the mean woman (not his actual language) couldn’t sue him for defaming her because he’s Too Important and Federal, and the judge says he can’t.
A federal judge on Tuesday denied the Justice Department’s effort to effectively end a defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump brought by a longtime magazine columnist who has alleged he raped her in a luxury department store dressing room, paving the way for the case to proceed.
The DOJ had sought to intervene in the case and substitute itself as defendant in the lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a move that likely would have curbed the proceedings, since the federal government can’t be sued for defamation.
Quite a hail Mary. How could the DOJ be the defendant? It was Don the Grabber who said Carroll lied, and he didn’t say it as part of his job with the government, he said it as the lying grabbing little shit he is.
Shortly after Carroll’s allegations became public, Trump denied them, telling reporters, “She’s not my type,” and accusing Carroll of lying to boost her book sales.
The DOJ has fallen very far under Sessions and Barr but not that far.
In a 61-page opinion, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump “is not an ’employee of the Government,’ as Congress defined that term,” and therefore the lawsuit isn’t, as the Justice Department argued, against the United States.
This means he can be sued.
The Carroll case is one of a litany of legal threats posed to Trump, many of which are likely to escalate if he loses the presidential election next week.
Fingers crossed.
In his opinion, Kaplan also rejected the Justice Department’s argument that Trump’s statements regarding Carroll were made within the scope of his employment, writing, “while commenting on the operation of government is part of the regular business of the United States, commenting on sexual assault allegations unrelated to the operation of government is not.”
Good to know!
On Tuesday, Carroll said she was gratified by the outcome. “When I spoke out about what Donald Trump did to me in a department store dressing room, I was speaking out against an individual,” she said. “When Donald Trump called me a liar and denied that he had ever met me, he was not speaking on behalf of the United States.”
He was speaking on behalf of his scummy little self.
If he wins, day one of Biden’s presidency needs to address the fact that Trump is a tremendous flight risk. Frozen passport and a flight ban minimum.
The President of the US is an elected 18th C monarch, with all the power that implies. I think that Trump should be sincerely thankful to the God whose Bible he holds aloft (whether upside down or not) that he will not be leaving office the way Charles I of England did: in two unequally-sized pieces.
While Trump will sooner or later, leave office in one piece, it could well be in a police wagon direct to a suitable hoosegow, clink, slammer, jug, or whatever the currently fashionable term for one is.
Yes, but that is not Constitutional. The president actually doesn’t have that many powers in the Constitution. 20th century presidents, especially starting with Wilson, began taking powers, and Congress let them. I suspect there is no way for Congress to pull those powers back now, though they might be able to work it through the Supreme Court when there is a Democratic president. But we’ve seen from the SCOTUS confirmation that the rules change the minute there is a Republican president.
Holms, #1. I was thinking recently about what Trump might do if he loses, both during the ‘lame duck’ period and regarding the handover to Biden.
On the first, I predict that he will be less a lame duck and more a wounded bear with kleptomania. He will go on a frantic looting spree, diverting as much as he possibly can into his accounts. He will be firing people left, right and centre, including anybody from his own side who he can blame for his loss.
He will order his administration not to cooperate with Biden’s transition team to make sure that they have no access to the information and services they need, leaving them scrambling to catch up after Jan. 20th. He will be especially careful to keep them away from anything incriminating or that might point them towards his ongoing looting. I suspect that he might even refuse them access to the White House and other federal buildings if he possibly can.
Come the New Year, sightings of the rest of his family will become scarce, and probably will not be seen at all in the final week.
Which brings me to the handover. I don’t think that there will be one, at least not in terms of Trump coming out to greet Biden before leaving. As soon as Trump is satisfied that he has stolen, destroyed, fired and obstructed as much as possible, some time late on the 19th he will have himself smuggled out of the White House unseen and whisked away to join his family in hiding, possibly out of the country while he waits to find out if warrants for his arrest have been issued. I’m sure he has enough wealthy acquaintances to find one prepared to give him use of a private jet to spirit him away in secret, and because he’ll be expected to be at the White House on the 20th, by the time his presence is missed he’ll be long gone.
So, AoS, you’re saying that he’s going to do like my ex? When he leaves, he will take everything, especially things that were paid for by others, or that belonged to us long before he arrived, but now that he has his hands on them, he won’t let go? The one question I have: is he going to demand a support payment that takes up 75% of everything we earn? And if so, will we have a good enough lawyer to do as my lawyer did, and point out that he can’t do that? (I suspect not; we’ll find ourselves facing the combined team of Guiliani and Barr, who are not exquisite lawyers, but play so dirty no other lawyer wants to even shake hands with them.)
Then when he leaves, we’ll have nothing but depression and suicidal thoughts, because he treated us badly and left us with nothing. Got it. Been there, done that, don’t want to go again…Donald, just leave. Get out. Go away.
Personally, I think that a day or so before the Jan 20 transition, he will fly somewhere abroad in AF1 and not come back. After the wounded bear kleptomaniac has done as much damage as possible.