Donald Trump has lost the protection of the Justice Department in his defamation lawsuit brought by magazine columnist E Jean Carroll.
On Tuesday, the DOJ said in a court filing that the former president does not have presidential immunity in the case, saying he was not “acting within the scope of his office and employment as President of the United States” in 2019 when he denied raping Ms Carroll.
This paves the way for the defamation suit to proceed through the courts.
This legal blow came the same day that a grand jury was sworn in on Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of the investigation into the efforts of the former president and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating Mr Trump after he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early 2021 and urged him to “find 11,780 votes” to flip the state in his favour.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is also seeking to have his federal criminal trial relating to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents delayed until after the 2024 election.
