Posted on 03/20/2024 7:41:58 AM PDT by Twotone
Former President Donald Trump is suing ABC News and network anchor George Stephanopoulos for defamation.
Last week, Stephanopoulos claimed on ABC News' "This Week" that Trump has been found "liable of rape." Stephanopoulos repeated the assertion more than 10 times during an interview in which he tried to use the history of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) as a rape victim to shame her for endorsing Trump.
But Trump has never been found liable of rape.
Last year, a New York civil jury found Trump liable of "sexual abuse" for allegedly assaulting E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s (Carroll cannot remember the exact year it happened). Importantly, the jury specifically found Trump not liable for rape.
Now, Trump is trying to hold ABC News and Stephanopoulos accountable for purportedly defaming him.
"[Stephanopoulos'] 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," argued a 20-page lawsuit filed in federal court Monday on behalf of Trump.
The lawsuit argues that ABC News and Stephanopoulos committed defamation per se and defamation per quod.
"[Trump] was accused [on ABC News] of engaging in rape, and that is, from our estimation, a clear defamatory statement that would meet the requirements of serving as a basis for a defamation per se claim," explained attorney Alex Brito, who is representing Trump in the matter.
ABC News is declining to comment on the matter.
Trump has previously tried to litigate this very issue.
Last year, Trump claimed that Carroll defamed him when she declared on CNN the day after a civil jury found Trump liable of sexual abuse that Trump had "raped" her.
But a judge dismissed Trump's counterclaim because he found that Carroll's comments were "substantially true." The civil jury's verdict, the judge ruled, "establishes, as against Mr. Trump, the fact that Mr. Trump 'raped' her, albeit digitally rather than with his penis. Thus, it establishes against him the substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape' allegations."
The ruling raised questions precisely because Trump has never been criminally convicted of rape — let alone charged with the crime — and because the civil jury found Trump not liable for rape.
Importantly, Trump maintains his innocence to this day.
All the malicous propagandists of the MSM should be held severely and personally accountable for their lies.
Suing for $500 Million ? LOL
Sue him for $455 million plus lawyer fees
They’re saying over at PJ Media that Steppinalloverus was “mansplaining” to Nancy Mace how she should feel about rape.
But don’t you have to be a MAN to “mansplain”?
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The Morning Briefing: Trump Suing Stephanopoulos Is Just the Pick-Me-Up My Week Needed
And they would, if America's judicial system was not destroyed by these leftists.
A judge in New York.
Is a party liable “of” something, or are they liable “for” something? I don’t know that I have ever seen “liable of” before.
Stephy was put up to this, ABC doesn’t care, they love having this story back in the news before an election....it’s what the media does.
Steppinalloverus was ‘mansplaining’ to Nancy Mace how she should feel about rape.”
I guess she knows how she should feel about rape, as she was a victim of rape herself. That Clinton apologist is such a putz.
The Court has spawned a parallel Bizarro world in which Trump and the word “rape” can be linked with impunity, by whomever apparently, and in which, post-judgment, Trump is forbidden from telling the truth (i.e., that he never did what E. Jean said he did). Instead, the court-fomented fiction initiated by E. Jean and her hazy Blasey-Ford-style non-year-specific steamy sex story has supplanted reality, and Trump when he is required by the court go along with this foolishness for the rest of his life?
Of all the vile leftist pundits Stephanopoulos is one of the worst. And a filthy slob as well.
Steffy was Clinton’s butt boy. Nothing will happen to him. Democrats are never punished.
Yeah, yeah, but will that be decided by a judge or a jury? With a jury, you just need one Trump-hater to throw it. At least with a Trump-hater judge, they would have to justify their decision, and it could be appealed.
I really had a thing for her way back when she was on "In Living Color".
500-600 million dollars should make it right
Vert smart guy, but really just another Dem Political Hack with no Journalism training acting as a Journalist.
Politics to Big Media to Big Academia to Big Pharma
Professionally, a good gig if you can get it.
But America suffers for it.
Steponallofus sounds like one of our NeverTrump FR posters - two piles of lying dogsqueeze in a pod.
>The civil jury’s verdict, the judge ruled, “establishes, as against Mr. Trump, the fact that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her, albeit digitally rather than with his penis. <
WTH? so albeit digitally is a crime? PROVE IT BEOTCH!
500 to 600 million dollars,is NOT ENOUGH FOR PROMOTING THIS OFFENCE AGAINST A US EX PRESIDENT . THIS WAS DONE ON A MAJOR US MEDIA STATION AND SENT AROUND THE WORLD.
IT SHOULD BE AT LEAST 1 BILLION DOLLARS.
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