President Trump has enlisted the Justice Department to help him appeal the $83.3 million defamation judgment he owes former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
The DOJ plans to ask the Supreme Court for the power to directly represent Trump in his appeal, arguing that he acted as a government employee when he first defamed Carroll in 2019. Instead of Trump v. Carroll, the case would become U.S. v. Carroll.
The DOJ plan was revealed in a filing from Trump’s personal lawyer in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where Trump recently lost an appeal effort to avoid paying Carroll. Trump’s lawyers also posited that Trump’s presidential immunity and the apparent harm Carroll would cause with the money as reasons for the court to delay the payment. Carroll has said she’d donate the millions upon collection.
This is the federal government spending its time and your money to help the president with a personal lawsuit from the woman he was found liable of sexually abusing in 2023. This massive lack of independence and transparency would be a world-breaking scandal for any other president. For Trump, it’s just Tuesday.
The $83.3 million judgment remains.