DOJ no longer believes Trump should have immunity from E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit

The Justice Department has reversed course and said it no longer believes that Donald Trump should be entitled to immunity for his response to E. Jean Carroll's accusation of sexual assault, allowing the civil lawsuit to move forward to trial in January.

The change in position eliminates one legal hurdle surrounding Carroll's 2019 defamation lawsuit against Trump for statements he made while president, denying her allegation of rape decades earlier, that he didn't know her, and that she wasn't his "type."

DOJ lawyers said in a letter to lawyers for Trump and Carroll that "the Department has determined that it lacks adequate evidence" to conclude the former president was acting within the scope of his employment or serving the US government "when he denied sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll and made the other statements regarding Ms. Carroll that she has challenged in this action."

Initially, the Justice Department under both the Trump and Biden administrations said Trump was acting within the scope of his duties when responding to reporters' questions in 2019 about Carroll's allegations. That essentially meant that the Justice Department would be substituted as a defendant and the case would likely be dismissed.

The case has been held up on appeal over what constitutes the scope of an employees' duties until a Washington, DC, court provided guidance this spring, sending the case back to the judge. The DOJ was given until Thursday to state its position. Trump's and Carroll's lawyers will also have an opportunity to weigh in.

In addition, in a separate lawsuit brought by Carroll last year under a New York law allowing a one-year lookback for civil claims involving sexual assaults, a federal jury in May found that Trump sexually abused Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation. Trump, who is appealing the decision, does not face any jail time as a result of the civil verdict.

In light of the developments, the Justice Department said its position had changed.