(DailyDig.com) – Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit claiming defamation against George Stephanopoulos and ABC News on March 18. The lawsuit was filed in Miami federal court regarding an interview during the show “This Week” on ABC on March 10.
Trump’s claim, according to the lawsuit, was that Stephanopoulos tarnished his reputation on the broadcast by stating several times that he was guilty of rape during the interview with Nancy Mace, the Republican US Representative from South Carolina. The lawsuit stated that the jury in the civil case in Manhattan last year concluded that Trump was only guilty of sexual abuse, not rape.
According to New York law, rape can only occur when the genitals are involved. In the interview with Mace, Stephanopoulos asserted that the jury had found Trump guilty of rape. In the complaint filed, Alejandro Brito, Trump’s attorney, stated that Stephanopoulos made malicious statements that disregarded the truth. The complaint asserts widespread distribution and repetition of the broadcast in various news media.
Brito added that Trump did not rape E. Jean Carroll as found by the jury, and the defendant, Stephanopoulos, knew what the jury’s finding was, yet he still made the false statements anyway.
The lawsuit cites the interview with Mace as the guest of Stephanopoulos’ “This Week” show. He questioned Mace about how she could support Trump when he was found guilty of rape after she had been a victim of rape when she was a teenager.
Mace replied to his questioning by stating that Trump’s trial was not a criminal case but a civil case. She then told him that she believed that he was trying to shame her, which she said was offensive. That type of offensive questioning is part of the reason many women will not report their rapes for fear of being ashamed.
The lawsuit’s complaint not only claims that Stephanopoulos’ statement was malicious but intentionally false and “designed to cause harm.”
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