A federal judge in Florida on Wednesday denied a motion from ABC News and George Stephanopoulos that sought to dismiss the defamation suit brought by former President Donald Trump.
The former president sued the network and one of its star anchors in March, claiming that Stephanopoulos defamed the former president during an interview with GOP Representative Nancy Mace by claiming on multiple occasions that Trump was found liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll. The former president’s team wrote in their original suit that Stephanopoulos’ statements were made “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”
Trump praised Wednesday’s decision, which was signed by Chief U.S. 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!”
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 claimed that Trump raped her in a New York City department store in the 1990s.
The jury on the case did not rule that Trump had raped Carroll. However, in August 2023, presiding Judge Lewis Kaplan clarified that Carroll’s claims that 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 against 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 Trump’s defamation suit 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, which was reviewed by Newsweek.
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 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.”
Newsweek reached out to ABC News via email Wednesday afternoon for comment on Altonaga’s order.
Wednesday’s order comes just a few weeks before ABC News is scheduled to host a presidential debate between Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has previously agreed to participate in the September 10 debate while President Joe Biden was still in the running but has recently started to push back on ABC hosting the event, arguing for Fox News to instead hold the debate.
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