A federal judge in Florida last week rejected ABC News’s motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit Donald Trump filed against the network and its anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump filed suit against ABC News in March, arguing that during a March 10 interview with South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s “This Week,” Stephanopoulos defamed the former president by falsely claiming that he was found liable for rape in the lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
The jury in the case did not find Trump liable for rape, which is narrowly defined under New York law. However, the judge later asserted that the former president was held liable for what “many people commonly understand” as rape.
ABC News filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the lawsuit was “spurious.”
However, in a July 24 decision, US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga rejected the motion, saying that a jury may view the segment from the March 10 “This Week” broadcast and “find there was sufficient context,” but added that a “reasonable jury” may conclude that Trump was defamed, thus a dismissal would be “inappropriate.”
Trump celebrated Judge Altonaga’s decision in a post on social media, describing it as a “big win” against the “fake news” network. He also mocked Stephanopoulos’s height by nicknaming the diminutive former Clinton advisor “Liddle.”
Altonago is the chief judge of the Southern District of Florida and was appointed to the federal court in 2003 by President George W. Bush.
ABC News is expected to host the second general election presidential debate on September 10. However, it is unclear if the debate will take place now that President Joe Biden has dropped out of the race and the conditions agreed to by both campaigns were initially made by the president’s reelection team.
Last week, Donald Trump hinted that he may not attend the debate, arguing that he agreed to participate on the understanding that Joe Biden was his opponent.
Stephanopoulos conducted the first interview with President Biden following the disastrous CNN debate on June 27. The ABC anchor was later forced to apologize after he was recorded saying he did not think President Biden could serve another four years in office.
