ABC News, Stephanopoulos: ‘All Roads Lead to Dismissal’ of Trump’s Defamation Suit

Former President Donald Trump’s May 24 opposition to ABC News and George Stephanopoulos' motion to dismiss Trump’s defamation complaint (see 2405280024) wrongly asserts that the case isn’t about the difference between rape and sexual battery, the media company and news anchor's reply said. It was filed Friday (docket 1:24-cv-21050) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in Miami. “In fact, that is exactly what it is about,” the reply said. Trump alleges Stephanopoulos repeatedly said during his March 10 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that multiple juries found Trump liable for raping journalist E. Jean Carroll. In 2023, a federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, but not liable for raping her. ABC News and Stephanopoulos urge the court to dismiss Trump’s complaint because all the challenged statements “are substantially true, given that there is no material difference between rape and sexual assault for purposes of defamation,” their reply said. The defendants also think that Trump “is collaterally estopped from arguing otherwise,” because the Southern District of New York twice decided “this very question” to Trump’s detriment in prior litigation, it said. The remainder of Trump’s opposition “is little more than an effort to distract from these core dispositive points,” it said. In an attempt to avoid dismissal of his claims on collateral estoppel grounds, Trump argues that this court can’t consider the documents attached to the defendants’ motion to dismiss. These include court records reflecting U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s findings that the jury in the second Carroll trial found Trump liable for rape, said the reply. Yet the reply argues that the Southern District of Florida “may consider these documents because they are judicially noticeable and are incorporated by reference” in the complaint. Once it considers those documents, the court can readily dismiss the complaint on collateral estoppel grounds because the Southern District of New York “definitively decided a dispositive issue” in this case to Trump’s detriment, it said. The fact that ABC News and Stephanopoulos weren’t parties to the two Carroll cases is “irrelevant,” it said. New York law doesn’t require “mutuality between the parties for collateral estoppel to apply,” it said. As for the merits, the court can, as many other courts have, determine the issue of substantial truth on a 12(b)(6) motion “because all the relevant facts are already before it,” it said. Trump’s arguments “merely reinforce why there is a line of cases” holding that the gist and sting of terms like rape and sexual assault “are materially the same,” it said. The court should also dismiss the complaint “on the basis of the fair report privilege for much the same reasons,” it said. Trump’s use of his opposition brief to request leave to amend is "procedurally improper, and any amendment would be futile," it said. Ultimately, regardless of which avenue, or avenues, this court takes -- collateral estoppel, substantial truth or fair report -- “all roads lead to dismissal,” it said. The defendants therefore ask that the court dismiss the complaint with prejudice, it said.