ABC News has urged a Florida federal judge to dismiss former President Donald Trump‘s defamation lawsuit against the network, arguing that statements made by television host George Stephanopoulos regarding writer E. Jean Carroll’s two lawsuits against Trump were accurate.
ABC Trump Defamation Suit : Hearing Details
During a hearing on Monday in Miami before U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, the network defended Stephanopoulos’ statements that juries found Trump liable for raping Carroll. ABC pointed to a July 2023 decision in which U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who presided over the New York trials, denied Trump’s request for a new trial and reduction in damages.
Judge Kaplan noted that the jurors’ decision finding Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation, but not rape, hinged on a technicality of the New York Penal Law, which limits “rape” to vaginal penetration with a penis. However, digital penetration is considered “rape” in a colloquial sense, making Stephanopoulos’ statements true, according to ABC attorney Nathan Siegel.
Legal Arguments
“What Mr. Stephanopoulos said was literally true,” Siegel stated. “Judge Kaplan specifically held twice and repeated thereafter that the jury found him liable for rape. The judge was construing what the jury found.”
