In what can be described as an unusual move from the US Justice Department, the Government lawyers sought to take the helm of Donald Trump's defense in a defamation lawsuit that E. Jean Carroll had filed against him. The president, allegedly, raped her in the 1990s.

The Justice Department attempted to replace Trump's private legal team with government lawyers although the alleged sexual assault occurred before he became president. The Justice Department attributed its decision to intervene in the fact that Trump's comments that sparked the defamation lawsuit came while he was in office.

Trump will be defended at taxpayer expense, but the Justice Department has been accused of acting in the president's personal interest. Carroll, an advice columnist for who wrote for Elle Magazine for years, alleged in a lawsuit that Trump sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at the luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman back in the 1990s, CNN reported.

Deeming the allegation as "totally false," the president claims he never met Carroll in his life. The request and the possibility of change of lawyers is expected to further delay the lawsuit, or even kill it altogether.

If the Justice Department takes over, Carroll's lawsuit could come to an end as the federal government can't be sued for defamation, CNN legal analyst and University of Texas law school professor Steve Vladeck noted. Trump denied the allegation while he was acting in his official duties as the POTUS, the Justice Department explained in court papers earlier this week.

Trump was acting within the scope of his office as president at the time of the incidents that led to Plaintiff's defamation claim, the court papers said. Moreover, Trump provided the challenged statements as the President of the United States, responding to questions from the press.

The Justice Department went on to suggest in its court filing that the elected officials in the cases cited were either making public statements or speaking to the press at the time of their challenged actions. Furthermore, the department said that the Westfall Act requires the substitution of the U.S. defendant in this action.

Speaking of the Justice Department's logic, Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan said the department's argument is shocking even in today's world. CNN legal analyst Elie Honig described the move as a "wild stretch by DOJ."

Honig said it is hard to even remotely conceive how DOJ is insisting on denying a claim that he committed sexual assault before taking office is within the official duties. Attorney General William Barr and The Justice Department are already under fire for their actions that seem to favor Trump's political standing.