The Justice Department said it will decline to shield former President Trump from a defamation claim by New York writer E. Jean Carroll, reversing course on one of its most controversial decisions during the early stretch of the Biden administration.
The department notified attorneys for Trump and Carroll of the move late Tuesday afternoon. In papers filed with a federal judge in New York, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton said DOJ determined that it "lacks adequate evidence to conclude" Trump was serving the federal government and acting within the scope of his employment when he denied he had sexually assaulted Carroll and made other derogatory remarks about her.
