ABC's lawyers argue that Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against George Stephanopoulos should be thrown out, citing an article from The Washington Post and describing Stephanopoulos' statements as 'substantially true.'

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Attorneys representing ABC and George Stephanopoulos have requested a federal judge to dismiss Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit over an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., where Stephanopoulos repeated the claim that the former president had been found 'liable for rape' in the E. Jean Carroll civil case, defending Stephanopoulos' statements as 'substantially true' and pointing to a Washington Post article that the host referred to during the interview.

The attorneys, Nathan Siegel and Rachel Fugate, stated that Trump is trying to re-litigate a defamation theory that he has already lost twice in New York, and argued that even though a jury found a person committed a violent sexual assault, it is not defamatory to say that the person committed a 'rape,' which is not recognized by Florida law.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, argued that the court only needs to look at the jury verdict sheet in the Carroll case, which indicated 'no' to a rape finding.

But the Trump lawsuit did not address, as reported by Law&Crime, Senior U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's statement that forcible digital penetration is widely understood to be 'rape.'

Kaplan clarified that although Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was 'raped' within the meaning of the New York Penal Law, the evidence at trial made it clear that the jury found that Mr. Trump did in fact commit rape.

The judge also made a finding that the “jury implicitly found Mr. Trump did in fact digitally rape Ms. Carroll.

During the segment, Stephanopoulos questioned Mace on how she, a rape survivor, could support Trump.

When the clash got heated, Stephanopoulos cited a Washington Post article on Kaplan’s ruling, headlined 'Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll.'

Stephanopoulos stated that the judge affirmed there was rape and that Trump was found to have committed rape, as the graphic aired, and stressed that it was a fact.

When Mace responded by saying that it was a civil judgment, not a criminal court, Stephanopoulos replied by saying, 'I just showed you the facts.'

The motion to dismiss directly pointed to Stephanopoulos’ citation of the Washington Post article in real-time as part of the defense of his statements.

The motion emphasized that Stephanopoulos made it clear what he was referring to by displaying a Washington Post headline dated July 19, 2023, stating, 'Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll,' and highlighted that Trump was held liable in a civil court, concluding that the statements were substantially accurate reports of court proceedings, which is covered by Florida’s broad fair report privilege.

After once again criticizing the Trump lawsuit as lacking in merit, arguing that the case should be thrown out, and stating that Stephanopoulos' statements were largely accurate, the filing ended with a sharp comeback.

“Finally, even if it's assumed arguendo there could possibly be some validity to Mr. Trump's apparent view that inserting his fingers into Ms. Carroll's vagina sounds better than saying he ‘raped’ her, the lawyers stated that Defendants are not required to add more information that would present the Plaintiff in a more positive way,'”

Read the motion to dismiss here.