Former president and presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has become the latest member of the GOP to sue the Walt Disney Company. Trump is suing Disney-owned ABC and ABC News This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos for defamation.
Trump claims that by repeating on air that the former president was liable for raping write E. Jean Carroll, ABC and Stephanopoulos harmed his reputation.
Former President Trump was found liable for sexual battery and defamation in a civil case brought by Carroll and was ordered to pay her $88.3 million. However, Trump was not found liable for rape, as Stephanopoulos said on This Week.
The judge in Trump’s Manhattan civil case, Lewis Kaplan, later said because of New York’s narrow definition of “rape,” the jury’s findings “did not mean that Ms Carroll failed to prove that Mr Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.'”
BREAKING: Donald Trump sues ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos for defaming him during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace.
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The lawsuit stems from Stephanopoulos’ questioning of Mace about being a r*pe survivor.
The show host apparently lied about Trump during his… pic.twitter.com/0ojdHHFS7R
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 19, 2024
Donald Trump’s case against ABC News stems from George Stephanopoulos’ interview with South Carolina Rep Nancy Mace. Mace has endorsed Trump for president and is also a rape survivor who has openly shared her story.
During the interview, Stephanopoulos said:
Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury. Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. It’s been affirmed by a judge.
Republican Rep Nancy Mace retorted that it was “not a criminal case” and that Stephanopoulos was trying to “shame her as a rape victim.”
Lawyers representing Donald Trump filed their defamation claims in Federal Court in the Southern District of Miami. Part of the filing said:
(Stephanopoulos) acted with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth. Indeed, the jury expressly found that [Trump] did not commit rape and … Stephanopolous was aware of the jury’s finding in this regard yet still falsely stated otherwise.
This latest court filing comes just one day after Trump failed to make his $454 million bond in a New York City courtroom. Trump and the Trump Organization were found guilty in a civil case in which they inflated the value of their property to receive favorable loans.
Trump is now the latest member of the GOP to sue the Walt Disney Company. Disney is currently battling with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over control of the district that governs the Walt Disney World Resort. Disney was also sued last month by former Trump Advisor Stephen Miller, claiming that the company discriminated against white, Christian men.
Trump will be a busy man over the next few months. Besides running for president, he will also have several civil cases against him and an election interference case in Georgia. His claim of “absolute Presidential immunity” will be in front of the Supreme Court next month.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.