A Florida judge has just given the green light for President Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against ABC News anchor George Stephanopolous to move forward.
Judge Cecilia Altonaga of the United States District Court in Miami rejected ABC‘s motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against Stephanopolous and the Disney-owned network.
The lawsuit stems from comments Stephanopoulos made in March when he falsely asserted that Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil case against the Republican White House hopeful.
Stephanopoulos repeatedly promoted the false smears on his show, even after being corrected by Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), whom he was interviewing at the time.
“A jury may, upon viewing the segment, find there was sufficient context. But a reasonable jury could conclude Plaintiff was defamed and, as a result, dismissal is inappropriate,” Judge Altonaga ruled Wednesday.
Trump touted the ruling on Truth Social, writing:
“A BIG WIN TODAY IN HIGH FLORIDA COURT AGAINST ABC FAKE NEWS, AND LIDDLE’ GEORGE SLOPADOPOLUS.
“A POWERFUL CASE! BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WILL BE FORCED BY THE COURTS TO START TELLING THE TRUTH.
“THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR OUR COUNTRY. MAGA2024!”
ABC News has yet to comment.
Stephanopoulos’s comments were made during a tense exchange with Rep. Mace on his Sunday program “This Week” in March.
After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
“You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president.
“Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos falsely claimed, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos repeated that claim a whopping ten times during his ugly spat with Mace.
However, Trump was not found “liable for rape.”
The jury in the case sided with Carroll in her defamation claims regarding Trump’s denials of the unfounded allegations she made against him.
Nevertheless, the ABC News anchor remained defiant about the lawsuit during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in May.
“Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen,” Stephanopoulos said.
“We filed a motion to dismiss.”
Days before Wednesday’s ruling, Trump suggested he was scrapping ABC’s scheduled presidential debate he agreed to participate in with Democrat President Joe Biden.
Since Biden dramatically exited the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris on Sunday, Trump would likely now face the vice president in the debate.
However, Trump has now floated that Fox News should host a debate instead.
“My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September,” Trump posted on Sunday.
“Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you!”
Fox sent formal letters to both the Trump and Harris campaigns proposing its own debate in September.
The letters, sent to each campaign on Wednesday, signed by Fox News Media President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace and Fox News Vice President of Politics Jessica Loker, stated:
“Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee, FOX News Media is amending our proposal for a debate this cycle.
“Given the race has changed, we’d like to request the opportunity to host a Presidential Debate between VP Harris and former President Trump.
“We propose to host the debate in the state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, September 17, just as early voting is getting underway there and in other key battlegrounds.
“We are open to discussion on the exact date, format, and location — with or without an audience,” Wallace and Loker continued.
“Again, we believe Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the faces of our political coverage, are the best choices to moderate.”
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