President-elect Donald Trump and ABC Information host George Stephanopoulos will sit for depositions subsequent week in Trump’s defamation case in opposition to the anchor and his community, a choose dominated on Friday.
Trump is suing ABC News and Stephanopoulos for defamation after the host incorrectly stated a number of occasions that Trump was “discovered accountable for rape” throughout an interview final March on “This Week” with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.
Attorneys representing ABC and Stephanopoulos, who additionally hosts “Good Morning America,” argued in a digital listening to on Friday that Trump should make himself out there for an in-person deposition subsequent week, earlier than the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a movement for abstract judgment to be able to keep away from a trial.
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks throughout a Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Trump has made himself out there for a recorded deposition up to now, however a choose argued that the sport has modified now that the election is over, NBC News reported.
U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Lisette M. Reid issued an order that Trump sit down for an in-person deposition the week of Dec. 16. She argued that whereas Trump beforehand had a “pretty good argument” that he was too busy to take action throughout the marketing campaign, “he’s now in a totally completely different posture, and he ought to have the ability to make himself out there.”
Nathan Siegel, the lawyer representing ABC Information, has claimed that he’s keen to make the deposition course of as handy as attainable for Trump, to the purpose that he’ll fly to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida and restrict the deposition to 4 hours, and probably do such a sit-down on a Saturday.
Stephanopoulos can be permitted to do his deposition remotely, the choose dominated.
TRUMP SUES ABC NEWS, GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS FOR DEFAMATION
George Stephanopoulos has been a frequent critic of Trump. (ABC/Paula Lobo by way of Getty Photos)
The president-elect’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, argued that even when the election is over, the character of Trump’s place makes such a gathering a troublesome endeavor.
“I’m going to do every thing in my energy to make the president out there,” Brito stated. “However there are limitations of my capacity to take action. I’ve to issue the Secret Service into the equation.”
NBC reported that he “assured the court docket that he would instantly work with Trump’s employees to determine his availability subsequent week.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Trump and Stephanopoulos’ representatives, neither of whom instantly responded for remark.
Stephanopoulos’ feedback had been made throughout a tense change with Mace on March 10. After taking part in a clip of Mace discussing being a sufferer of rape, Stephanopoulos requested her, “How do you sq. your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we simply noticed?”
“You’ve got endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have discovered him accountable for rape and for defaming the sufferer of that rape,” Stephanopoulos stated, alluding to the authorized victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
George Stephanopoulos questioned Rep. Nancy Mace’s endorsement of Donald Trump as a sufferer of rape throughout an interview that is now on the middle of a defamation lawsuit in opposition to the ABC anchor. (Left: (Picture by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Photos), Proper: (Invoice Clark/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photos))
Stephanopoulos repeated the declare ten occasions throughout his spat with Mace, even supposing a jury truly decided Trump was accountable for “sexual abuse,” which has a definite definition underneath New York legislation.
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ABC has stood by Stephanopoulos for the reason that interview. The swimsuit in opposition to ABC just lately noticed the beginning date for a jury trial pushed from April 2025 to June 2025 after either side sought extensions.
Fox Information Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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