Dan Abrams Lauds Biden DOJ’s Decision to Defend Trump in E. Jean Carroll Lawsuit
Mediaite founder and ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said on Tuesday that the DOJ continuing to defend Donald Trump in a defamation case is “actually very admirable.”
E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump while he was president, for comments he made responding to her publicly accusing him of rape. The DOJ sought to defend Trump in the case, and it is continuing to do so under Merrick Garland. Abrams blasted Trump for making the comments about Carroll, but emphasized that the legal issues at hand were not about whether one finds his comments offensive.
Abrams spoke with law professor Steve Vladeck about the position the DOJ is taking and whether they would be successful on appeal. The professor had written that the DOJ position under Barr “may well be substantively correct” and that while he too found the former President’s comments highly offensive, he still believes the Justice Department’s position would likely be supported by an appellate court. Abrams went on to say, “I admire the Justice Department for taking this position”:
Donald Trump’s comment — in particular, his comment “she’s not my type” — is so offensive, that to me, this is almost the equivalent of, in a First Amendment case, defending the right of people who say horrible things to say horrible things. Different legal issues, of course. But the point is you can take a defense, and in this case it is the defense of Donald Trump, not because you support him, not because you support what he said, but because as a legal matter, Attorney General Barr may have taken the correct position.
Abrams called on Trump supporters to recognize that the Biden Department of Justice was not seeking to “go after the former president,” as some on the right claim, and that appealing a lower court opinion on behalf of the former president should serve as proof of a willingness to put politics aside.
Later in the program, Abrams debated the issue with CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, who was on TV earlier in the day criticizing the Biden DOJ and saying, “I think Merrick Garland is making a mistake here… I think he’s missed an opportunity here to draw a line between the new DOJ and the Bill Barr DOJ.”
Abrams again argued, “I think that we have to give the Department of Justice credit for being blind to the politics of this and sticking by what they view as a principled legal position.”
Honig continued criticizing the DOJ and said Garland has “missed an opportunity” to “set down a marker” between them and the Barr DOJ.
Abrams jumped in and asked, “Why should the Department of Justice be putting down markers as opposed to doing what it views as the right thing?”
Honig responded by saying Garland has an opportunity to “try to undo Bill Barr’s abuses” and is miscalculating right now. He also said it doesn’t seem like Garland has any interest in looking into matters like the Mueller report or the January 6th riots.
Abrams countered that “to bash them they way you just did on CNN” is unfair, “when what they’re doing is taking a principled legal decision, and I fear that you are responding with just a hint of politics.”
You can listen above, via SiriusXM.
