Donald Trump has taken legal steps against ABC and George Stephanopoulos, claiming that they incorrectly represented him as a rapist in a series of allegations. This move comes following a long-standing case where former President Trump was held liable for sexual assault, but not rape, against E. Jean Carroll.
In order to make this distinction, he sued the mentioned media personalities for eliding the difference between the charges. Joe Tacopina, Trump’s attorney, managed to convince the jury that there was no penetration, hence reducing the charges to sexual assault. He later argued that the judgement of $2 million in compensatory damages didn’t make sense as the conduct could be no more than “groping of [Carroll’s] breasts through clothing or similar conduct.”
Judge Kaplan rejected Trump’s motion to redefine the verdict, stating that under the colloquial definition of rape, Trump could be considered a rapist even if not under New York law. Despite this, Trump continued to contest Carroll’s accusations, even filing a counterclaim for defamation.
Amidst these legal maneuvers, George Stephanopoulos continued to assert that Trump had been found guilty of rape. Consequently, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against Stephanopoulos and ABC. Trump’s Attorney Alejandro Brito, has other instances of lawsuits including one against Michael Cohen and another against CNN.
With this ABC lawsuit, Donald Trump’s strategy to fight back against claims of sexual assault segues to a larger campaign strategy itself. While this might bring some setbacks in his path, it’s apparent that Trump is gearing up for his war against the ‘evil media’ and it seems that this might as well turn out to be his rallying chant. As unclear as the motive of these lawsuits might be, it’s pretty clear that his claims vest in categorizing these accusations as just ‘attempts’ to tarnish his image.
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