The mishap resulted in his network incurring a $15 million loss, as a jury in the real world did not convict the now-president of that heinous crime. In other words, Stephanopoulos was responsible for another instance of “fake news” from our nation’s flawed mainstream media.
It seems AOC might not be up to date with the current news, as she recently made the same accusation on social media, which, according to many, could expose her to potentially severe legal repercussions:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) faced backlash on social media after labeling President Trump “a rapist” in an online post—many suggested that her tweet could lead to a defamation lawsuit from the president.
Ocasio-Cortez sparked outrage when she tweeted Friday about Trump and the release of files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, apparently referring to Trump and the 2023 civil trial where he was found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll.
This little nugget might end up being extremely costly:
Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 11, 2025
Utah Gop Sen. Mike Lee posted that you can’t just throw out your wildest ideas if they are totally divorced from reality:
Even under the ridiculously lenient standards of NY Times v. Sullivan, you’ve managed to incur defamation liability
Wow https://t.co/i5lXbo5K0o
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 12, 2025
This is a concept that Stephanopoulos found out the hard way, much to his everlasting shame and chagrin:
Stephanopoulos and ABC were sued by Trump last year after the “This Week” host similarly asserted that Trump had been “found liable for rape,” during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
In December, ABC and Stephanopoulos agreed to pay Trump’s presidential library foundation $15 million and an additional $1 million in legal expenses as part of a settlement, and the network publicly apologized for the error.
Oops.
