Trump Sues ABC, Stephanopoulos

Former President Trump had a busily litigious Monday, filing court documents saying that he can't raise the enormous bond in his civil fraud case, and as the Hill reports, suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation. The lawsuit stems from an interview Stephanopoulos did with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina on March 10 in which the ABC News anchor asked the rape survivor why she was endorsing Trump, a man found liable in lawsuits brought by E. Jean Carroll. The rundown:

• The Stephanopoulos quote in question: "Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?" It was not the only reference Stephanopoulos made to Trump having been found liable for rape.

• The lawsuit's contention: Trump was found liable for sexual abuse, not rape. Ergo, "these statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendant Stephanopoulos with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth," reads the complaint. "Indeed, the jury expressly found that Plaintiff did not commit rape and, as demonstrated below, Defendant George Stephanopoulos was aware of the jury's finding in this regard yet still falsely stated otherwise."
• Therein lies the technicality: The New York Times notes that the judge in the Carroll case clarified that because New York law has a narrow definition of rape, the verdict didn't mean that Carroll "failed to prove that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape.'" "Mr. Trump forcibly digitally penetrated Ms. Carroll," which doesn't meet the state's definition of rape, but "both are felonious sex crimes," US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said in his ruling, per the Hill.

(More George Stephanopoulos stories.)