Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos. The lawsuit stems from comments made by Stephanopoulos on air regarding a rape case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll.
The defamation lawsuit filed against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos accuses the news anchor of making false statements about Trump’s involvement in the rape case. The lawsuit alleges that Stephanopoulos repeatedly claimed on his show “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” that Trump had been found liable by multiple juries for the rape of E. Jean Carroll.
The defamation lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida. It accuses Stephanopoulos of making these statements with malice and a disregard for the truth.
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The lawsuit claims that these false statements were widely distributed to third parties and repeated.
The lawsuit specifically cites a March 10 interview with U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican who publicly spoke about her own experience of being raped as a teenager.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos mentioned that Trump had been found liable for rape and questioned Mace’s endorsement of Trump. These remarks form the basis of the defamation claim against Stephanopoulos.
“Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw, ” Stephanopoulos asked during the interview.
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“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,” Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, said in the 20-page complaint.
“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,” Brito continued.
ABC News has refrained from commenting on the lawsuit.
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