Trump sues George Stephanopoulos, ABC News for defamation after saying he is 'liable for rape'
Former President Donald Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the host recently claimed that multiple juries found him "liable for rape" against writer E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos made the claim during a heated March 10 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," during which he pressed the congresswoman on her support for Trump despite being a rape victim herself.
"Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape," Stephanopoulos asked Mace. "How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?"
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In the complaint filed Monday in federal court in the Southern District of Florida against Stephanopoulos, ABC and ABC News, Trump's attorney Alejandro Brito alleged that there is enough evidence to prove that Stephanopoulos engaged in the "actual malice" a public figure must demonstrate to prove defamation in court.
"These statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendant Stephanopoulos with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth given that Defendant Stephanopoulos knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false," Brito wrote.
"Indeed, the jury expressly found that Plaintiff did not commit rape and, as demonstrated below, Defendant George Stephanopoulos was aware of the jury's finding in this regard yet still falsely stated otherwise."
The complaint noted how Stephanopoulos made the statement more than 10 times throughout the roughly 10-minute interview. It also cited past instances when Stephanopoulos and ABC News were more precise in reporting that a Manhattan civil court found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape.
In one interview the complaint cited, Stephanopoulos explicitly asked Carroll what she was thinking when the jury found him not liable for rape.
The judge in the civil case clarified in a memo last July that because of the "narrow, technical meaning" of rape under the New York Penal Law, the jury finding Trump not liable for rape does not mean it did not occur.
"The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,'" Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote. "Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that."
Trump was slapped with an $83.3 million judgment in the lawsuit, plus interest.
Trump has filed defamation suits before against other media organizations such as CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, which have been dismissed in federal court.
During his interview with Mace, Stephanopoulos also drew the ire of the congresswoman for his line of questioning.
Mace first went public with her story of being raped at 16 during a debate in the South Carolina House of Representatives regarding whether the state's fetal heartbeat bill should contain an exception for rape and incest.
After he opened the interview with a video of her speech about the issue, Mace shot back at Stephanopoulos, accusing the former Clinton White House communications director of attempting to "shame" her for her political views by dredging up a traumatic experience that happened to her when she was a teenager.
"Well, I will tell you, I was raped at the age of 16, and any rape victim will tell you, I've lived for 30 years with an incredible amount of shame over being raped. I didn't come forward because of that judgment and shame that I felt," she said.
"And it's a shame that you will never feel, George, and I'm not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim. I'm not going to do that," she continued.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
