Donald Trump has been accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and even rape. 

These allegations, if proven true, are incredibly disturbing.  They are even more so, when leveled against a president; who is supposed to embody the best of our values.  

As outrageous and egregious as it is to have a sitting president who so obviously denigrates the rights of women, and threatens their safety, things got even more outrageous today. 

As reported in the New York Times, and multiple other credible sources, "The Justice Department moved on Tuesday to replace President Trump’s private legal team with government lawyers to defend him against a defamation lawsuit by the author E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s (The New York Times, Wednesday September 9, 2020). " That is, we, the taxpayers would foot the bill for Trump's trial on charges that he raped Ms. Carrol. 

As Ms. Carrol's lawyer warned: “Trump’s effort to wield the power of the U.S. government to evade responsibility for his private misconduct is without precedent,” the lawyer, Roberta A. Kaplan, said, “and shows even more starkly how far he is willing to go to prevent the truth from coming out.”

There is no reason this matter should involve the government, the alleged rape has nothing to do with presidential matters, it did not take place during Trump's presidency, and should not be in the purview of the Justice Department. 

Please support our democracy by writing Attorney General Bill Barr and demanding that the Justice Department remove itself and the power of intimidation it wields from this case. 

Rape is a serious allegation, no victim relishes reliving this pain. There is an inherent imbalance of power between victim and the accused rapist in any sexual misconduct trial.  Ms. Carrol should not be intimidated by the President or the Justice Department.