March 20 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos over statements made during a interview that aired earlier this month.
The lawsuit, filed late Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, seeks damages, punitive damages and court costs from the defendants on accusations that Stephanopoulos intentionally made “false and defamatory statements” about Trump during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-.S.C, that aired during the March 10 episode of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
In the interview, Stephanopoulos presses Mace, a rape victim, on her endorsement of Trump for president after “judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape.”
Trump has been found liable of sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, whom the former president has been ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages following two court cases on the matter.
Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, and she sued the New York real estate mogul after he publicly denied knowing who was once the allegations became public. He also accused her of making up the story to sell books.
While the jury sided with Carroll, it could not reach an unanimous agreement on whether he had raped her.
In their lawsuit, Trump’s legal team accuses Stephanopoulos of stating Trump was found liable of rape “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth given that defendant Stephanopoulos knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false.”
“Given Stephanopoulos’ knowledge of the actual verdicts in Carroll I and Carroll II and given his vast experience as a journalist, his repeated statements that plaintiff was found liable for rape were false, intentional, malicious and designed to cause harm,” Trump’s lawyers said in the 20-page court document.
“Stephanopoulos knew that his statements about plaintiff were false yet made them in any event.”
Trump’s legal team continues to accuses both Stephanopoulos and ABC News of failing to apologize for the interview or issue a public correction.
Mace on Tuesday issued a statement in support of the lawsuit, saying Stephanopoulos should be held accountable by ABC leadership, and if he is not his employers should “pay a steep price for his actions.”
“Stephanopoulos thought he could use me in his shameful attempt to damage President Trump. It didn’t work because I wouldn’t fall for it,” she said. “President Trump will always fight for the truth.”
Trump has filed several lawsuit against media organizations, including CNN, The New York Times and others, which have been dismissed by the courts.
In January, he was ordered to pay The New York Times nearly $400,00 in legal fees over his failed lawsuit against the newspaper.
