By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump is seeking a quick end to the defamation lawsuit by an author who claims he raped her more than a quarter century ago. A lawyer for the former U.S. president asked a federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday to substitute the United States as the defendant in E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuit, a move that would end her case because the government cannot be sued for defamation. The request came one day after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Trump was a federal employee when he branded Carroll a liar, but left it to a Washington, D.C., appeal…