LOS ANGELES.–Former President Donald Trump, 77, sued ABC’s George Stephanopoulos for repeating inaccurately that Trump raped former Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Stephanopoulos interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) Sunday, March 17 on ABC’s “This Week” asking her how, as a rape survivor, she could back Trump. Trump was found liable May 9, 2023 by a New York jury of sexual abuse, not rape, for an incident alleged by Carroll that took place in the mid-1990s in a lingerie dressing room of Berdorf-Goodman, a post Manhattan department store. Trump denied Carroll’s charges, saying he didn’t know her at all. Stephanopoulos questioned Mace several times in his interview of how she could back Trump for president, as a rape survivor, knowing Trump raped E. Jean Carroll. Carroll’s jury awarded her $5 million, holding Trump liable for sex abuse.
Whatever happened, if anything, in a Berdorf-Goodman changing room, it most likely too two to tango, meaning, if anything at all happened, maybe a consensual sexual encounter. Yet a jury agreed with Carroll that something non-consensual took place on an unknown date sometime in the mid-90s. Once the jury awarded Carroll $5 million, Trump continued to deny the sex abuse charge, saying the incident never happened. Carroll’s attorney Robert Kaplan dragged Trump back to court for defamation, saying that Trump damaged her client’s reputation saying the incident never happened. On Jan. 26, Carroll won her defamation suit against Trump when a jury awarded her another $83 million for defamation and punitive damages. Trump attempted to appeal the $83 million award but was forced by Judge Lewis Kaplan to pony up a surety bond or face liquidation of his assets.
Stephanopoulous, a Democrat political hack, has worked since 2000 for ABC News, retreaded as a journalist after serving as former President Bill Clinton’s press secretary. Stephanopoulos has nothing good to say about Trump or any Republicans for that matter, spending years on ABC promoting the Russian hoax that Trump was a Russian asset, something alleged by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square you endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?” Stephanopoulos asked Mace. Stephanopoulos played fast-and-loose knowing that the charge of sex abuse was not rape, yet he continued to accuse Trump of rape. Stephanopoulos knows how to repeat Democrat talking points but not deliver facts required of journalists.
Hitting Stephanopoulos and ABC News with a defamation suit is entirely fair play, after Trump was taken to task for defamation by E. Jean Carroll for denying the charges or sex abuse or anything else. Speaking on National TV, Stepphanopoulos took liberties during fiercely contested Election Year to slam Trump as a rapist, a frequent charge made against Trump since the Bill Bush tape was leaked in 2016 about Trump saying he took liberties as a celebrity to “grab women by the pussies.” Whether that actually happened or not, Hillary certainly hammered Trump in the 2016 campaign with what he called “locker room talk.” For Stephanopoulos, a broadcast journalist for ABC News, to repeatedly claim that Trump as a convicted rapist goes beyond the pale for its inaccuracy. Trump was not convicted of rape, he was found liable for sex abuse in a civil trial.
Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito outlined Trump’s defamation suit against Stephanopoulos and ABC News in a 20-page complaint in Miami federal court. “These statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendants 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,” wrote Brito. Brito’s defamation case accuses Stephanopoulos of willfully making false statements during an Election Year to damage Trump’s chances of beating 81-year-old President Joe Biden. If Carroll can drag Trump into court for defamation, it’s certainly reasonable for Trump to do the same with Stephaopoulos and ABC News. Stephanopoulos committed journalistic malpractice repeating false defamatory statements about the former president.
Trump was found liable May 9, 2023 of sex abuse of E. Jean Carroll by a New York jury. Whether the jury was biased or not against Trump, Carroll’s attorney Robert Kaplan proved her case with a preponderance of evidence required in civil trials. Whether Kaplan or Judge Kaplan like it or not, it was a civil, not a criminal trial, applying a very different standard of proof. “Indeed, the jury expressly found that Plaintiff did not commit rape and, as demonstrated below, Defendant George Stephanopoulos was aware of the jury’s finding in this regard yet still falsely stated otherwise,” Brito wrote. All of Trump legal cases are so politicized he can’t get a fair trial anywhere, listening to the likes of Stephanopoulos and other liberal journalists accuse Trump of things he never did. Opening a 30-plus-year-old civil case against Trump was bad enough but listening to Stephanopoulos goes over the top.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
