Justice Dept blocked in bid to shield Trump from rape defamation suit

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump can be personally sued for defamation in connection with his denial while in office of a decades-old rape allegation.
 

The judge, Lewis A Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan, rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to step into the case and defend the president, and his ruling means that, for the moment, a lawsuit by the writer E Jean Carroll can move forward against Trump, in his capacity as a private citizen.
 

Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Her