The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied President Donald Trump's bid to make the federal government the defendant in E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit against him, the Washington Examiner reported.
The court ruled that the request, made in June, came "simply too late."
"Fairness and equity dictate that the motion to substitute be denied," the court wrote in its 23-page opinion.
Trump argued in his motion that his statements made about Carroll came in his official capacity as president, saying that under the Westfall Act, which shields officials from personal liability, the federal government should be the defendant in her $5 million defamation case against him.
Carroll accused Trump of assaulting her around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan and defaming her in an October 2022 Truth Social post by denying her claim as a hoax.
Trump argued that the Supreme Court's decision last July providing him substantial criminal immunity shields him from liability in Carroll's civil case.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.