Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

[_Jersey Girl]

Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

By Dan Berman, CNN

Updated 8:47 PM ET, Tue September 8, 2020


Intro:

(CNN)The US Justice Department, in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, asked to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.

Is this even freaking allowed? It's not, right? This is his personal business.

wth

[_Icarus]

Welcome to Trumplandia, where the US Constitution is just a nuisance as our autocrat dictator uses his appointee puppets to violate their oaths just to do his bidding.

Trump could easily provide a DNA sample to exonerate himself IF HE WERE INNOCENT.

But he fights tooth and nail to prevent the courts from forcing that.

Gee, is that how an innocent person acts?

I seem to recall something about missing emails and Republicans pedantically asking WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO HIDE?

That level of critical scrutiny doesn't exist when the guilty party has an R after his name.

So now, basically, our tax dollars are going to be used to defend a serial rapist.

[_Gunnar]

Justice Department wants to defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

By Dan Berman, CNN

Updated 8:47 PM ET, Tue September 8, 2020


Intro:

(CNN)The US Justice Department, in an extraordinary move on Tuesday, asked to take over the defense of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault.

Is this even freaking allowed? It's not, right? This is his personal business.

wth

According to CNN legal analyst, Elie Honig, cited in the same article that you probably took the above quote from:

"I can't remotely conceive how DOJ can argue with a straight face that it is somehow within the official duties of the President to deny a claim that he committed sexual assault years before he took office," Honig said.

The Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr are already under fire for actions that appear to benefit Trump's political standing.

"This is very much consistent with Barr's well-established pattern of distorting fact and law to protect Trump and his allies: the Mueller report, Ukraine, Stone, Flynn, firing of the SDNY US Attorney and, more recently, baseless claims about widespread mail-in ballot fraud," Honig said.

Also from that same article:

The request and possible change of lawyers could further delay the lawsuit, or even kill it entirely. Should the Justice Department be allowed to take over, it could mean the end of Carroll's lawsuit as the federal government can't be sued for defamation, noted CNN legal analyst and University of Texas law school professor Steve Vladeck.

Which is obviously whole point of that desperate move by the DOJ Under the direction of AG Barr, who has already revealed himself as a spineless Trump sycophant or lap dog on numerous occasions.

[_Gunnar]

Trump could easily provide a DNA sample to exonerate himself IF HE WERE INNOCENT.

But he fights tooth and nail to prevent the courts from forcing that.

Is there any realistic possibility that he could actually be compelled to provide that DNA sample?

But if he were innocent, it would be stupid of him not to provide it. If he did, and it were unequivocally proven to be his, and there was no match, the publicity and furor over his exoneration of this alone would probably clinch his reelection for sure, despite all his other proven failings and malfeasance in office. It would also utterly destroy the credibility of E. Jean Carroll and be used by Trump to cast serious doubt on the claims of all his other female accusers.

[_MeDotOrg]

It is a delaying tactic. It will, in all probability, be thrown back to the state, but nothing will come out until after the election. Bill Barr will have won a delaying tactic. I'm not sure how it will all look next year.

[_Jersey Girl]

I'm answering my own question now.

Is this even freaking allowed? It's not, right? This is his personal business.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.

https://www.justice.gov/about

[_Jersey Girl]

I get what you guys are saying about a delaying tactic. But I swear, when I see reports like the link to report in the OP I feel like I've forgotten everything I thought I knew. That's why I asked the question. It's always a case of "I losing my mind now, right?"

Up is down.
Left is right.
Top is bottom.
Big is small.

And so forth. Since Trump took office he's hurled us all into an alternate reality or at least that's how it feels to me. I think it's because he doesn't know sh-it about governing. He believes the government is there to serve HIM like he's CEO of a corporation where staff is there to serve HIM instead of solve problems for the country. And if they disagree, heads roll and he simply refills the stock tank with new willing ass kissers.

I'm at the point where I'm going to need to limit reading news reports to every other day in order to get psychologically through to the finish line with this guy if a finish line even exists after November because I can only deal with so much toxic chaos at one time.

[_MeDotOrg]

I get what you guys are saying about a delaying tactic. But I swear, when I see reports like the link to report in the OP I feel like I've forgotten everything I thought I knew. That's why I asked the question. It's always a case of "I losing my mind now, right?"

Up is down.
Left is right.
Top is bottom.
Big is small.

And so forth. Since Trump took office he's hurled us all into an alternate reality or at least that's how it feels to me. I think it's because he doesn't know sh-it about governing. He believes the government is there to serve HIM like he's CEO of a corporation where staff is there to serve HIM instead of solve problems for the country. And if they disagree, heads roll and he simply refills the stock tank with new willing ass kissers.

I'm at the point where I'm going to need to limit reading news reports to every other day in order to get psychologically through to the finish line with this guy if a finish line even exists after November because I can only deal with so much toxic chaos at one time.

The premise of transferring the case from the State Court to the Federal Court is that Trump was exercising his duties as President when he said "she's not my type" in response to a rape charge. Of course it's b.s.

No one is surprised that Trump would try such a tactic. But whatever shred of propriety Barr could cling to is now gone. I think of Elliot Richardson (Nixon's AG) who refused to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. To me, this is perhaps the most disheartening thing about the Trump Presidency. During Watergate, Republicans instinctively defended the President. But when the evidence became overwhelming, they gently pushed Nixon out the door.

Trump has gradually changed the party into a cult of personality. Loyalty Trump's principles. Nixon had such people around him (Chuck Colson and G. Gordon Liddy, for example), but the party still had those who were statesman rather than politicians. The rock-ribbed Conservative lion was Barry Goldwater. Today we have Ted Cruz. If Richard Nixon has said the Barry Goldwater's father was involved with the McKinley assassination, I doubt you would have seen Goldwater working a phone bank for Nixon.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

This is intolerable. Don’t know what to do. My Congressional rep is Trump butt boy Chris Stewart. One of my Senators is Trump cockholster Mike Lee. Guess I’ll shoot a note off to Romney...

- Doc

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Ok. I sent Senator Romney a request to act. This is what pops up after you use their msg’ing system: “Thank you, your message has been sent.”

- Doc