Former President Donald Trump (R) filed suit against the ABC Network, ABC News, and host George Stephanopoulos (D) on March 18th claiming comments made by Stephanopoulos during an interview he conducted were defamatory. In an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (SC-R), Stephanopoulos asked her about the two juries that awarded the writer E. Jean Carroll a combined $88.3 million in damages stemming from her claim that Trump sexually abused her. It was a gotcha question for Mace which did not set well with Mace as she, herself, is an actual rape victim.
“George Stephanopoulos hammered for questioning Rep. Nancy Mace’s support for Trump as a victim of rape” – Fox News
During the March 10th interview with Mace, Stephanopoulos asked Mace how she could support a man where, “Judges and two separate juries have found him (Trump) liable for rape,” among other references to Trump being “found liable for rape.”
In truth, in May 2023, a jury in New York did not find Trump liable for rape, but did find him liable for the sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll. The judge presiding over the trial then wrote in an August 2023 order that the sexual abuse Trump was found liable for, supposedly forcibly penetrating Carroll with his fingers during a mid-1990s assault, meant “Mr. Trump in fact did ‘rape’ Ms. Carroll as that term commonly is used and understood.” Many would argue that point with this proven prejudicial judge and many more believe Trump never even met Carroll as he has said many times before.
What Stephanopoulos also did not mention during his interview with Mace was the case was under appeal and while Judge Lewis Kaplan (D) ruled against Trump’s attempt for a new trial in the $80 million defamation verdict for Carroll in April, Trump will carry on in the appeal process as noted by his attorney.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba (R) wrote in a statement sent to Newsweek: “We categorically disagree with Judge Kaplan’s decision. It ignores long-standing constitutional principles and is a prime example of the lawfare raging across this country. We are confident that this decision will be overturned by the Second Circuit.”
Stephanopoulos, to be fair to President Trump, should have mentioned three important points that are problematic with the E. Jean Carroll case in appeal.
1. The statute of limitations had run out on the case of some 30 years ago so the Democrat politicians of New York passed an Adult Survivors Act (ASA), good for only one year, whereupon Carroll filed her suit the day after the act was signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul (D). If there was no collusion, how did she know it was coming?
2. E. Jean Carroll has a reputation with charging men with rape and does not perform well as a witness.
3. It was impossible for President Trump to get a fair trial in New York where the city votes 90% for Democrats over Republicans so one could argue he never got a trial by a judge and jury of his peers as a Republican in this age of Democrat lawfare.
In fact, Stephanopoulos never opted to mention those facts as some 90% of the mainstream media (including himself) also vote blue.
So this is where it gets interesting… the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was held on Saturday the 27th where president Joe Biden scolded the press seemingly asking them to step up their game in defending him and the very next day on Sunday April 28th Stephanopoulos “sounds alarm on democracy, ‘test’ for the press” with this statement.
“Until now, no American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a Federal indictment for obtaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a Federal indictment or a State indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named as a co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president had ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgements for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse. Until now, no American Presidential Race has been more defined by what is happening in courtrooms than what is happening on the campaign trail, until now. The scale of the abnormality is so staggering that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits. To treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and a peaceful transfer of power. But that is not what is happening in this election year. Those bedrock tenants of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”
While Stephanopoulos never mentioned the name of former President Donald Trump during his soapbox speech, the screens appearing during it were all about Donald Trump.
“ABC’s Stephanopoulos sounds alarm on democracy, ‘test’ for the press” – Fox News
CONCLUSION:
Years ago the CBS “60 Minutes” news magazine show concluded with a segment titled “Point/Counterpoint” where liberal Shana Alexander debated conservative James J. Kilpatrick in a short time frame. I will offer the conservative counterpoint to Stephanopoulos here now:
“Until now, no American president has ever so successfully evaded so many criminal charges, many of which are tantamount to treason. No American president has remained unindicted for obtaining and concealing classified documents he was to possess as both a senator and vice president in 4 separate locations. No American president has remained unindicted after taking some 20 million dollars from foreign countries through 20 LLC’s where no discernable goods or services were offered. No American president has ever colluded with the FBI, DOJ, and mainstream media to deceive and conceal the contents of both a son’s laptop and daughter’s diary with evidence of criminality of incest, pedophilia, illegal drug use, firearm violations, and money laundering. Until now, no American Presidential Race has been more defined by contrasting what is happening in courtrooms that shouldn’t be, compared to what isn’t happening in courtrooms that should be, until now. The scale of the abnormality is so staggering one could actually rightfully criminally charge the mainstream media with malpractice as by now it has become obvious to all but the most ignorant the media has been perpetrating Nazi Joseph Goebbel’s ‘Big Lie’ which is, ‘If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.’ To treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and a peaceful transfer of power, the media must do better. To protect those bedrock tenants of our democracy we will now start calling out incidents of lawfare of the FBI, DOJ, and political party in order to prevent a second Civil War. To be fair to all sides, those of us in the media must do better.”
Copyright © 2024 by Mark S. Schwendau
www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.
