Trump claims big win after judge rejects ABC attempt to dismiss defamation lawsuit!

MIAMI, Florida (PNN) - July 24, 2024 - A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied a motion from ABC News and George Stephanopoulos that sought to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought by President Donald J. Trump.

President Trump sued the network and one of its star anchors in March, claiming that Stephanopoulos defamed him during an interview with GOP Representative Nancy Mace (S.C.) by claiming on multiple occasions that Trump was found liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll. President Trump’s team wrote in their original lawsuit that Stephanopoulos’ statements were made “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”

President Trump praised Wednesday’s decision, which was signed by Chief District Judge Cecilia Altonaga for the Southern District of Florida, in a post to his Truth Social account Wednesday afternoon, describing it as a “BIG WIN” against “ABC FAKE NEWS” and “LIDDLE’ GEORGE SLOPADOPOLUS.”

“A POWERFUL CASE!” he added, writing in all caps. “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!”

President Trump was found liable for the sexual assault and defamation of Carroll in May 2023. The former magazine columnist, who was awarded $5 million in damages, had falsely claimed that President Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s.

The jury on the case did not rule that President Trump had raped Carroll. However, in August 2023, presiding Judge Lewis Kaplan clarified that Carroll’s claims that President Trump had raped her were “substantially true,” and that any legal distinction between rape and sexual assault were “minimal”. Carroll also won a second defamation case against President Trump in January and was awarded $83.3 million in damages.

ABC News and Stephanopoulos pointed to Kaplan’s past rulings in a motion to dismiss President Trump’s defamation lawsuit filed in May. Altonaga, however, dismissed the defendants’ request, writing in part that there was a clear distinction between Carroll’s words and Stephanopoulos’ statements.

“Where Carroll reiterated and relayed her own experience, Stephanopoulos represented that he was describing the jury’s verdict,” read Altonaga’s order.

The judge also said that it remained unclear if Stephanopoulos’ statements, like Carroll’s, were “substantially true.” But Altonaga made clear that she was not ruling on the merits of President Trump’s claims, adding that the defendants “may very well convince a reasonable factfinder to follow Judge Kaplan’s reasoning or to adopt other reasoning leading to the conclusion that Stephanopoulos’s statements were not defamatory.”

“That is not the issue before the Court now,” the judge wrote. “At this stage, the Court only decides that Defendants have not satisfied their burden to show collateral estoppel should apply, and that collateral estoppel would not be fairly applied in these circumstances.”