Action: Call your legislators! This is a gross, illegal and unethical use of our money!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen./Rep. [___] to know that Trump calling a woman he may have raped a liar to the national press, is not part of his “official capacity as President of the United States.” We, the American taxpayers, believe he should set an example by taking responsibility for his actions and by complying with the original court’s orders. We refuse to pay for both his defense for his tawdry and bullying behavior and if he is found guilty, we refuse to have our tax dollars used to pay any judgements against him.
Contacts – Program these into your phone!:
- Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
- or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
- Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
- and Senator Harris: email,DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 981-9369, SD (619) 239-3884
- Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Deeper dive
Trump may have been a federal employee at the time he made the scurilous comment against Ms. Carrol, but we don’t agree that insulting or threatening private American citizens, (especially those holding DNA evidence against him), comprises part of his official duties.
We also don’t agree with opening up a HUGE NEW OPPORTUNITY for our garrilous grifter-in-chief. Trump is probably, right now, trying to figure out how to insert references in press interviews to any and all his many current legal issues, as a way to bring them under Barr’s control and to transfer defense costs to our wallet.
What recently happened to the case against Trump.
E. Jean Carroll, has already “paid” for not remaining silent. She lost her longtime job as an Elle magazine writer after accusing Trump of raping her at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury New York City department store, in the mid-1990s. She then accused Trump of defamation in 2019, after he stated in a press interview that the incident never occurred as “She’s not my type.” (his type here.) A New York state court had rejected Trump’s claim of immunity from the private lawsuit. “Trump was soon going to be required to produce documents, provide a DNA sample, and sit for a deposition,” Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement.“
However, in a last minute action, Barr’s DOJ filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asking the court to substitute the “United States” for Trump as the defendant in the lawsuit and to move the case from state to federal court. He argued that Trump’s derogatory remarks were made in the performance of his official duties as president under the Westfall Act of 1988, which protects government employees “even in cases where a claim involves them being asked questions by the press that “relate to their personal activity.” Therefore, according to Barr, not only should government attorneys take over Trump’s defense, but American taxpayers should now assume all expenses, including any judgements made for Carroll.
Joseph Tacopina, a New York defense attorney who is not involved in the case stated “The DOJ was not meant to serve as the president’s personal in-house counsel, particularly on the taxpayer’s dime.”Trump calling an alleged victim of rape … a liar is not an act in his official capacity. Although ad hominem attacks on members of the regular public may be a regular occurrence in the Oval Office these days, Article II of the Constitution does not include within the functions of the presidency the role of Chief Mudslinger.”
However, Carroll’s chances of winning anything, even with a positive DNA test, would be unlikely in this new scenario. Federal officials are generally immune from charges of defamation. If the DOJ’s filing is successful, it would effectively bring her case to an end. Barr refers to Carroll’s possible loss of rights as a private citizen to sue an alleged repeat offender who publicly lied to humiliate her on a national stage as a “little tempest that is going on [the controversy over the action] …largely because of the bizarre political environment in which we live.”
Here are two statutes Barr is using to defend Trump:
- The Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946 allows for lawsuits to be filed against the United States in federal court for actions taken by its employees.
- The Westfall Act “accords federal employees absolute immunity from tort claims arising out of acts undertaken in the course of their official duties, 28 U. S. C. §2679(b)(1), and empowers the Attorney General to certify that a federal employee sued for wrongful or negligent conduct “was acting within the scope of his office or employment at the time of the incident out of which the claim arose.” §2679(d)(1), (2). “
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 