After an order from a judge this week he sit for a deposition in the case, Donald Trump released a lengthy statement in which he repeated some of the same sentiments that originally got him sued for defamation from writer E. Jean Carroll, who says the former president sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.
“This “Ms. Bergdorf Goodman” case is a complete con job, and our legal system in this Country, but especially in New York State (just look at Peekaboo James), is a broken disgrace. You have to fight for years, and spend a fortune, in order to get your reputation back from liars, cheaters, and hacks,” Trump complained. His nickname for Carroll is the name of the department store where she has said the incident took place. Later this year, she intends to sue Trump directly over what originally happened, after New York officials set up a new law reopening opportunities for court action in cases of alleged sexual misconduct where statutes of limitations would have otherwise kept court cases from moving forward. Trump’s reference to “Peekaboo James” is directed at New York state Attorney General Letitia James, who is Black. The nickname, which he’s used before, has an unclear origin, but historical associations make it sound racist.
Trump then began maligning Carroll again — a dubious legal strategy (at best) in a case in which he’s facing legal scrutiny for having engaged in targeted antagonism of Carroll after her story first emerged. One of his key defenses in the case is that he made the comments in sufficient connection to his role as president to mean he has legal protections, and accordingly, the Justice Department has sought to tack itself onto the case — which could end it because of restrictions against suing the government for defamation. Trump had been trying to get proceedings, including his deposition, temporarily halted while a D.C. appeals court considers whether Trump’s earlier comments about Carroll that led to her defamation lawsuit were made in his capacity as a federal employee. A New York appeals court “asked the DC appeals court to determine if Trump was acting in the scope of that [federal] employment when he made the allegedly defamatory statements,” CNN notes.
“And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!” Trump proclaimed. “She has no idea what day, what week, what month, what year, or what decade this so-called “event” supposedly took place. The reason she doesn’t know is because it never happened, and she doesn’t want to get caught up with details or facts that can be proven wrong… E. Jean Carroll is not telling the truth, is a woman who I had nothing to do with, didn’t know, and would have no interest in knowing her if I ever had the chance. Now all I have to do is go through years more of legal nonsense in order to clear my name of her and her lawyer’s phony attacks on me. This can only happen to “Trump”!”
Trump also babbled about the documents case. “There is no “crime” having to do with the storage of documents at Mar-a- Lago, only in the minds of the Radical Left Lunatics who are destroying our Country, and were just forced by the Courts to give me back much of what they took (STOLE?) during their unprecedented and unnecessary break in of my home,” he insisted this week. “The Clinton “Socks Case,” which is law, says it all belongs to “the President,” NO CRIME, and the Presidential Record Act is simple, “negotiate,” and NO CRIME. These people are CRAZY!!!” He’s seemingly misrepresenting — to an extreme extent — relevant developments in court and the law. Presidents don’t have absolute control over their documents.
