Trump deposed in defamation suit filed by E. Jean Carroll
Cindy Houser, executive director of the American Constitution Society, speaks in support of the lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Human Rights, filed against President Donald Trump, in U.S. District Court in Washington, December 7, 2017. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Reuters)
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Washington (CNN) – President Donald Trump has removed one more person from the Justice Department for failing to uphold the highest ethical standards, according to a former top Department of Justice lawyer who was fired for misleading a Senate committee on an ethics investigation.
The latest to lose his job this weekend was E. Jean Carroll, the executive director of the Center for Human Rights, who filed a lawsuit against the president on behalf of the center.
“My decision to file suit against the president in this circumstance was based on the fact that he has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no regard for the rule of law,” Carroll told CNN.
“I hope that it encourages other people with similar concerns to step forward, and that more people have the courage to tell the President that he is not above the law.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions took office on February 1 as Trump’s attorney general. The man who appointed him, Trump’s first Cabinet secretary, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar during his confirmation hearings in February Trump’s concerns were with the appointment.
The president, Sessions said, “didn’t know the guy I was nominating for the job. And he didn’t know who I was nominating for the job.”
Carroll’s lawsuit, filed December 7, asked for an unspecified amount “for a range of violations” she says she suffered.
It is seeking to vindicate her “continuing professional reputation,” her “professional status” “and future career” and “due process under the law.”
Carroll said Trump has “delegated authority to appoint and remove U.S. Attorneys,” she contends, though the Supreme Court has ruled the Constitution provides for such authority.
“I’m proud of the career that I’ve had in the United States Attorney’s Office,” she said. “It