Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation suit against ABC News and one of its best known anchors, George Stephanopoulos, alleging that the TV journalist damaged Trump’s standing by saying on air that he had been found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, a journalist and writer who recently won a defamation suit against the former Commander in Chief.
The suit, filed Monday in the Miami division of Southern District of Florida in the U.S. District Court, attempts to make the case that Stephanopoulos during the course of a recent broadcast of ABC News’ “This Week” defamed Trump by stating the rape allegations several times. While Trump was found liable by a jury of assaulting Carroll sexually, the judge in the trial indicated that Carroll had not failed to prove that Trump raped her, citing New York’s narrow legal definition of the crime.
ABC News declined to comment on the matter.
Trump has a long history of trying to use the courts to retaliate against unfavorable press. In the past, federal judges have dismissed suits he has filed against CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Trump often uses the prospect of expanding libel laws to harass and prosecute the media in campaign speeches.
The Stephanopoulos remarks in question were made during a March 10 interview between the anchor and Rep. Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican. The anchor during the exchange pressed the politician on why she continued to support Trump despite the outcome of Carroll’s civil case. Mace has spoken publicly about being raped when she was a teenager,
