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Trump, a Republican, is already embroiled in multiple unrelated
legal battles as he seeks to avoid going to trial on four
criminal indictments before the Nov. 5 U.S. election, when he
will try to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden.
The new lawsuit said the anchor of ABC's Sunday news program
"This Week With George Stephanopoulos" "falsely stated on
several occasions that Plaintiff had been found liable by
multiple juries for the rape of Ms. E. Jean Carroll."
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Southern
Florida, accuses Stephanopoulos of making the statements with
malice and a disregard for the truth. It said the statements
were distributed widely to third parties and repeated.
ABC News said it had no comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit cites a March 10 interview with U.S. Representative
Nancy Mace, a Republican who has spoken publicly about being
raped as a teenager. Stephanopoulos said Trump was found liable
for rape and asked her how she could endorse the candidate.
A New York jury in May said Trump must pay $5 million in damages
for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and then defaming her
by branding her a liar. In a subsequent defamation lawsuit
brought by Carroll, a federal jury in Manhattan on Jan. 26
ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Carroll. Trump has
appealed.
Since launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, Trump
has often attacked media outlets whose coverage he dislikes. He
has filed multiple similar unsuccessful defamation lawsuits,
including a $475 million case against CNN that was thrown out by
a federal judge in July.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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