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President Donald Trump is set to go on offense in 2025 in a defamation lawsuit that he filed against ABC News earlier this year, following comments made by host George Stephanopoulos.
In March, Trump sued the media company for defamation after Stephanopoulos repeated on-air several times that the president had been found “liable for rape” in the case that took place in New York regarding allegations brought forth by ex-Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Trump was not found liable for rape in that case. RSBN reported that Trump was found guilty, rather, of defamation and, somehow, sexual abuse, although he has appealed that ruling.
According to Newsweek, the defamation suit against ABC is slated to be heard in April 2025, which could mean that he may have to head to court while serving as the sitting President of the United States if he wins the November 2024 election.
E. Jean Carroll’s claims that Trump raped her have never been proven in court. The court has instead awarded her tens of millions of dollars in damages over defamation (Trump has repeatedly fired off that he did not rape Carroll) and alleged sexual abuse. Trump recently posted an astronomical $91.6 million bond to appeal the ruling and has lambasted the case as a “witch hunt.”
The president’s move to sue ABC News is an important step toward reclaiming a mainstream narrative that seems to have been relentlessly promulgated by many people who have failed to properly convey the facts of the E. Jean Carroll case.
Per Newsweek, Trump’s lawsuit against the media company alleges that Stephanopoulos’s claims on-air were “false, intentional, malicious and designed to cause harm.”
In the meantime, Trump just began the first day of many weeks to come in court as a Manhattan-based criminal trial commenced on Monday. He is facing 34 felony counts related to the alleged falsification of business records and has been threatened with jail time if he misses even one day of the trial proceedings.
