(IntegrityTimes.com) – Former President Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos on March 18 after the anchor repeatedly claimed that a judge found Trump “liable for rape.”
Stephanopoulos said the phrase 10 times during a controversial interview with South Carolina Republican Representative Nancy Mace. Stephanopoulos was questioning why Mace would endorse Trump when she was a victim of rape. Mace balked at Stephanopoulos’s questioning and accused him of attempting to shame her for her political decisions. Mace pointed out during the interview that Stephanopoulos was referencing a civil trial where a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, not rape.
A spokesperson for Mace demanded the network force Stephanopoulos to apologize, but ABC defended his line of questioning. Despite instant blowback for his false accusation regarding Trump, Stephanopoulos did not apologize or retract his repeated remarks.
Trump has maintained his innocence despite juries finding him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation of his accuser E. Jean Carroll. He has filed appeals in both cases. The 20-page complaint against ABC and Stephanopoulos says that the statements made by the anchor were untrue and made “with actual malice or reckless disregard for the truth,” noting that Stephanopoulos knew they were untrue. The lawsuit was filed in a Miami federal court and did not specify an amount regarding damages sought by Trump. ABC News has not commented on the matter.
The complaint also includes a photograph of where the jury check-marked that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her, noting that Stephanopoulos was aware of that fact. Breitbart Senior Editor Joel Pollack pointed out that Stephanopoulos could have avoided a lawsuit had he not said that a jury found him liable. Pollack believes that Trump has a chance at winning the suit because Stephanopoulos’s remarks constituted defamation. Unsurprisingly, most left-leaning media outlets believe that Trump has no chance of prevailing over ABC and Stephanopoulos.
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