Trump sues ABC for defamation over report citing rape case

Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos over comments the news anchor made on air involving the rape case brought against the former U.S. president by writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump, a Republican, is already embroiled in multiple unrelated legal battles as he seeks to avoid going to trial on four criminal indictments before the Nov. 5 U.S. election, when he will try to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden.

The new lawsuit said the anchor of ABC's Sunday news program "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" "falsely stated on several occasions that Plaintiff had been found liable by multiple juries for the rape of Ms. E. Jean Carroll."

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida, accuses Stephanopoulos of making the statements with malice and a disregard for the truth. It said the statements were distributed widely to third parties and repeated.

ABC News said it had no comment on the lawsuit.