Trump Gets Tasty Revenge On Far-Left ABC Wackos

In addition to trying to paint Mace as a victim of Trump’s supporters, as RedState pointed out following the interview, Stephanopolous also misrepresented the results of the court case against Trump, claiming that “judges and two different juries have held him guilty for rape.”

In response to those comments, Trump has now sued Stephanopoulos and ABC for defamation.

The 20-page lawsuit, which can be read in full below, alleges two counts: defamation per se, which refers to remarks that are automatically considered detrimental, and defamation per quod, which refers to claims that the plaintiff must establish caused damage. The complaint also requests a sum of damages that is not mentioned.

The lawsuit states that while the jury found Trump guilty of defamation and sexual assault in the E. Jean Carroll suit (Carroll II), it did not find him guilty of rape. (The only issue in the second Carroll trial was a slander suit.) Moreover, Stephanopoulos was clearly aware of this, as the lawsuit makes clear, as he explicitly questioned Carroll about it in a brief interview that followed the original ruling in May 2023.

“It is noteworthy that Stephanopoulos challenged Carroll directly, “How about yesterday in the courtroom, when the initial pronouncement was made, and it was that he was judged not guilty for rape? How did you think at that particular moment?”

This is where there could be some leeway for Stephanopoulos and ABC now: Trump countersued Carroll for defamation in the defamation case that was still proceeding at the time (Carroll I), in response to Carroll’s persistent claims that Trump had sexually assaulted her following the original verdict. Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed that complaint, finding that Carroll’s description of Trump’s acts as “rape” was “substantially truthful.”

Lewis Kaplan, a U.S. District Judge, rejected Trump’s defense, finding that Carroll’s CNN remark was essentially accurate. “There would have been no difference in influence on the psyche of an average listener,” Kaplan concluded. The “fact” that Mr. Trump forcedfully accessed Ms. Carroll’s digital privacy is very similar to the “defamatory” assertions made by Ms. Carroll, according to which Mr. Trump “raped” her in violation of the New York Penal Law. These two sex offenses are felonious.”

In any case, Stephanopolous made false statements in the Mace interview, which he knew or ought to have known. Not a single jury found Trump guilty of rape. In an appealing case, a court concluded that a jury’s verdict of “sexual abuse” essentially amounted to the same thing.

Luckily for Trump, the decision-maker in this most recent case will not be that judge. Filed at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, it is now before Judge Cecilia Altonaga, who has presided over that court since her appointment by President George W. Bush in 2003. Naturally, that does not ensure how the legal matter will turn out. However, it does ensure that one judge (Kaplan), who doesn’t seem to respect legal terminology and distinctions, won’t be sitting in on the case.