ABC News' George Stephanopoulos inaccurately said Trump was found ‘liable for rape’ 10 times, legal gurus say

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos consistently used a liberal talking point during his controversial recent interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., according to Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York. 

Mace, a rape survivor, says she felt personally attacked when Stephanopoulos, a former top aide to President Bill Clinton, asked during a heated interview Sunday how she could support former President Trump when he was found "liable for rape." York, a Fox News contributor, says Stephanopoulos misrepresented what a jury found in the 2023 civil trial of advice columnist E. Jean Carroll vs. Trump. 

"The problem with Stephanopoulos’ question of Nancy Mace was that Stephanopoulos said 10 times, on 10 separate occasions, Donald Trump was found ‘liable for rape’ in the E. Jean Carroll case. He specifically said that the jury found Trump ‘liable for rape’ - now that's important. In fact, the jury specifically found Trump not liable for rape," York told Fox News Digital. 

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A federal jury in New York decided that former President Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation in 2023. (Getty Images)

"Now, it did find him liable for ‘sexual abuse,’ so this is not an exoneration," York, who has written extensively about the E. Jean Carroll case, continued. "But, it's just a fact that the court asked the jury, ‘Do you think Miss Carroll proved by preponderance of the evidence that Donald Trump raped her?’ And they said, ‘No.’" 

Indeed, the federal jury in New York decided that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation in 2023. Despite this, York noted that Stephanopoulos said "over and over and over again that Trump was liable for rape," which is not accurate. 

York admitted "one thing that complicates the matter" is that the judge "later tried to spin the jury's decision."

"He argued that the jury had, quote, ‘implicitly’ found that Trump was liable for rape. That the evidence implies that the jury found Trump liable for rape. Remember, they checked the ‘no’ box when asked about rape," York said. 

"If you read the judge's decision carefully, you'll see that the judge is deducing that this is what the jury must have thought," he said. "But the fact is, the jury was asked a question. Did Miss Carroll prove that Trump raped her, and they said, ‘No.’" 

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Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a rape survivor, says she felt personally attacked by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos.  (Fox News)

York believes the distinction is critical. 

"One of the reasons this is such a big deal is that, in some corners of the Democratic Party, it is very, very important for them to be able to say that Donald Trump is a rapist," he said, noting that Trump’s critics often label him a "rapist" as if it were a fact. 

"Stephanopoulos' questioning was absolutely in line, was very consistent with this Democratic line that Trump is a ‘rapist,’" York said.  

York feels Stephanopoulos knew what he was doing, particularly when he used a July 2023 Washington Post article headlined, "Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll" as evidence. 

Aaron Blake’s Washington Post piece stated, "Despite Carroll’s claims that Trump had raped her, [Trump's lawyers] noted, the jury stopped short of saying he committed that particular offense. Instead, jurors opted for a second option: sexual abuse," but insisted a filing from Judge Lewis A. Kaplan "clarified that this is basically a legal distinction without a real-world difference." 

Before York spoke to Fox News Digital, he shared his thoughts on social media and included the "judge’s spin."

George Stephanopoulos questioned Nancy Mace about her support of Trump. (Getty Images)

Trump has called the verdict a "disgrace," and denied all wrongdoing.  

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett agrees with York. 

"Stephanopoulos didn’t want pesky facts to get in the way of his preferred narrative. Jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped," Jarrett told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Trump was not found guilty of rape.

"Trump was found civilly liable for sexual abuse. The evidence was that Carroll claimed she was penetrated, though she was unsure — in what she described as a struggle — if it was digitally or by the sex organ. The jury did not find rape proved, but was unanimous that Trump sexually abused Carroll. The verdict does not mean the jury found Carroll was not raped; instead the jury found that there was sexual abuse but could not agree that it included rape. To be clear, this was a civil trial; the jury was not asked to find, and did not find, that Trump was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He has not been criminally accused, much less convicted, of sexual abuse or rape," McCarthy told Fox News Digital.

ABC News’ website reported Sunday that a representative for Trump pushed back about Stephanopoulos’ choice of words. The ABC News report pointed to the same filing used by the Washington Post to defend the anchor. 

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Attorney and law professor Danny Karon believes Stephanopoulos "crossed the line," but explained the complexity of the issue. 

"Stephanopoulos went too far when remarking that a New York jury found Donald Trump liable for ‘rape.’ The question of whether he raped E. Jean Carroll is a semantic one, with even Judge Kaplan explaining that the jury found Carroll’s rape allegation to be only ‘substantially true,’" Karon told Fox News Digital. 

"Her rape allegation was just one of three options triggering damages in her battery lawsuit, along with sexual abuse and forcible touching. By answering ‘no’ to the question of whether she proved Trump raped her, the jurors indicated they weren't convinced he penetrated her with his penis as is required by New York criminal law’s definition of rape. Instead, the jurors concluded Trump sexually abused Carroll by penetrating her with his fingers, which is not rape [according to the state's legal definition]," he continued. "Observing that digital penetration is in ‘common modern parlance’ rape, Judge Kaplan concluded her rape allegation was only substantially -- not literally -- true. As such, Stephanopoulos crossed the line when he represented that Trump raped Carroll."

George Stephanopoulos rose to fame working as a communications specialist in President Bill Clinton’s White House.  (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

York also finds Stephanopoulos to be "a flawed messenger" on the topic, given his past as a communications aide to Bill Clinton.

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Despite this, York doesn’t think Trump’s team should bother pursuing legal action against the ABC News anchor. 

"Trump is the most public figure in the world, and ABC could certainly hide behind what the judge said about the verdict," York said. 

"That was one of the reasons the judge said this," he added. "I think he was giving everybody cover to come out and say that Trump raped E. Jean Carroll even though the jury said he did not." 

ABC News has stood by Stephanopoulos. 

"George did his job by asking meaningful questions that are relevant to our viewers," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

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Trump's critics have also noted that he isn't in an enviable position as a presidential candidate by having to fall back on only being found liable for sexual abuse rather than rape.