Trump rants against Justice Department after setback in second E. Jean Carroll case: ‘I didn’t rape her’

Former President Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the Justice Department for refusing to back his defense in the upcoming second E. Jean Carroll civil rape case.

Hours after officials said his statements against Carroll were not protected by his role as president, Trump denounced the DoJ for a “travesty of justice.”

In May, a Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in her lawsuit against Trump for sexual assault and defamation.

He repeated false claims that he never met Carroll and that everything he said about the writer was true, potentially digging himself a deeper legal hole.

“The statements that I made about Carroll are all true. I didn’t Rape her,” Trump said on his social media site. “A hostile … Jury shockingly awarded a woman who I don’t know, have never known, and don’t want to know, $5,000,000.”

Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, a former advice columnist, in a Manhattan department store changing room after a chance meeting nearly three decades ago. A jury found it could not specifically determine if he raped her.

The verdict also covered defamatory statements Trump made about Carroll after leaving the White House.

The ex-president now faces a second trial in January for rants he made against Carroll while serving as president. A judge also permitted Carroll to add claims that he has repeated lies about her even after being found liable by a jury.

Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer said she does not want to amend the claim again to include Trump’s latest outburst. But she said she might use it as ammunition to ask for more damages.

Trump derides the Carroll case as part of a partisan “witch hunt” aimed at blocking him from winning back the White House.

His latest eruption was sparked by a Justice Department decision that Trump can be held personally liable for remarks he made while serving in office, a reversal of its previous position.

The DoJ said late Tuesday it no longer has “a sufficient basis” to conclude that Trump’s statements about Carroll were motivated by any aspect of public service.

Previously, the department had agreed with Trump’s attorneys that he was protected from the lawsuit by the Westfall Act, which gives federal employees immunity from lawsuits brought over conduct occurring within the scope of their employment.