Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos, host of This Week With George Stephanopoulos. On This Week March 10, Stephanopoulos asked Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) about endorsing Trump for president, and mentioned the 2023 court case involving Trump and E. Jean Carroll, who claimed Trump raped her. He said, “Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape.”
A jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not for rape. The judge later said the jury’s findings established “the substantial truth” of Carroll’s allegations of rape. The judge added that the sexual abuse Trump was found liable for means Trump “in fact did ‘rape’ Ms. Carroll as that term commonly is used and understood,” according to CBS News.
Two juries awarded Carroll $88.3 million in damages.
Trump’s lawsuit accuses Stephanopoulos of acting “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth,” and claims the host “knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false.”
An ABC News spokesperson did not comment.
