Former President Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos, alleging defamation over a recent interview with South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R).
The March 10 interview on “This Week” caught attention after Mace, a rape survivor, accused Stephanopoulos of trying to “shame” her by probing why she endorsed the former president despite juries’ recent verdicts in author E. Jean Carroll’s sexual battery and defamation lawsuits.
Trump’s lawsuit, filed on Monday, takes aim at how Stephanopoulos at multiple points in his questioning said Trump had been found “liable for rape.” The jury had found Trump liable for sexual abuse under New York law, but not rape.
“Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw, ” Stephanopoulos asked during the interview.
The Hill has more:
“These 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,” Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, wrote in the 20-page complaint.
“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 continued.
Trump asked for an unspecified amount of damages in the lawsuit.
Read the full complaint below:
Sue for 8B