Donald Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the TV host repeatedly said the former president had been found liable for rape.
The lawsuit stems from a controversial interview with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, a rape survivor, in which Stephanopoulos asked her, “Why are you supporting someone who has been found liable for rape?”
The lawsuit, filed Monday, said the host of ABC’s Sunday morning news program “falsely stated on several occasions that the plaintiff had been found liable by multiple juries for the rape of Ms. E. Jean Carroll.”
Trump’s lawyers accused Stephanopoulos of making the statements with “malice” and disregard for the truth.
“Plaintiff has suffered and will continue to suffer harm as a direct result of Defendant’s conduct,” they wrote.
Donald Trump sues ABC News and George Stephanopoulos after the TV host repeatedly says the former president has been found liable for rape
In the interview, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace accused Stephanopoulos of trying to “shame” and “bully” her, while the ABC anchor pressed her on why she supported Trump.
Trump is already embroiled in a series of lawsuits and four criminal cases as he campaigns to return to the White House in November’s presidential election.
A New York jury in May ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages for sexually assaulting Carroll in the 1990s and defaming her by labeling her a liar.
In a second defamation lawsuit filed by Carroll, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million. Trump is on appeal.
Last year, his lawyers tried to argue that her damages claim was excessive because a jury found he did not rape her.
But the US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan rejected that argument, saying the jury acted on a very narrow, legalistic definition of the term “rape.”
“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of New York criminal law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her, as many people commonly take the word ‘rape’. ” he wrote in a 59-page decision.
“As the trial evidence described below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump did indeed do just that.”
In their lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers say: “Indeed, the jury expressly found that the accuser did not commit rape…”
And they point out that the ten-minute interview portion started with questions about rape.
“Given that this was the first question of the interview, combined with the intensity and persistence of Stephanopoulos’ questioning of an actual rape victim, it was clear that Stephanopoulos maliciously intended to convince his viewers of a falsehood, that means that the plaintiff was found guilty of rape,” they wrote.
In their lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers say: “Indeed, the jury expressly found that the plaintiff did not commit rape and, as shown below, defendant George Stephanopoulos was aware of the jury’s findings in this regard, but he still wrongly stated the opposite.’
“You are trying to shame me for my political choice,” Mace told Stephanopoulos. ‘It was not a criminal court’
ABC News said it had no comment on the lawsuit.
The March 10 interview had already generated headlines after Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed Mace, who had spoken publicly about her rape as a teenager, about how to support Trump.
In return, she accused him of trying to shame and bully her.
Stephanopoulos said, “I’m asking you a question about why you support someone who has been found liable for rape.”
“It wasn’t a criminal court,” she replied. ‘This was a civil court and by the way she was joking about the verdict and what she was going to do with all that money. I find that insulting.
“As a rape victim who has been shamed for years because of her rape. You’re trying to shame me again.’
The South Carolina Republican endorsed Trump in January, and the former president returned the favor this month.