JUST IN: Trump Sues George Stephanopoulos And ABC For Defamation

Attorneys for former President Donald Trump have filed suit against ABC host and former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos after he incorrectly claimed that the Republican was found guilty of rape in his civil case against E. Jean Carroll.

In a 20-page filing in Miami federal court, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito writes that Stephanopoulos exhibited “malice” and a “reckless” disregard for the truth in a recent interview with Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-NC) while speaking about the Carroll ruling against Trump where he was found liable for sexual abuse under New York law, but not rape.

According to The Hill, Stephanopoulos asked Rep. Mace, a rape survivor, to square her endorsement of President Trump with the decision by a New York jury to side against him in the Carroll decision.

“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.

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“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,” lawyer Alejandro Brito wrote in his 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,” he continued.

No initial amount in damages, punitive damages, and court costs was asked for by Trump, but Brito concluded by asking a federal judge to allow a jury to consider the merits of a suit against ABC and Stephanopoulos.

After unsuccessfully countersuing Carroll over her public interpretations of the ruling, a Clinton-appointed judge concluded that describing Trump as being guilty of rape was “still substantially true.”

“The difference between Ms. Carroll’s allegedly defamatory statements — that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as defined in the New York Penal Law — and the ‘truth’ — that Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll — is minimal. Both are felonious sex crimes,” Kaplan ruled.

Since the ruling, Carroll has appeared in numerous televised interviews boasting that she would consider going on a shopping spree with the $83 million judgment she received in the case. Asked by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow what she thought of Trump again running for the White House, she replied that she would do “anything I can” to help President Joe Biden win reelection.