Trump, Stephanopoulos ordered to sit for depositions re: president's lawsuit against ABC

Posted on 12/14/24 at 10:09 am

Posted by NC_Tigah

Make Orwell Fiction Again

Member since Sep 2003

136528 posts

Posted on 12/14/24 at 10:09 am

quote:
Trump, Stephanopoulos ordered to sit for depositions for president-elect's lawsuit against ABC News
Trump has accused 'This Week' host of defaming him
By Alexander Hall
December 14, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump and ABC News host George Stephanopoulos will sit for depositions next week in Trump's defamation case against the anchor and his network, a judge ruled on Friday.

Trump is suing ABC News and Stephanopoulos for defamation after the host incorrectly said several times that Trump was "found liable for rape" during an interview last March on "This Week" with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

Lawyers representing ABC and Stephanopoulos, who also hosts "Good Morning America," argued in a virtual hearing on Friday that Trump must make himself available for an in-person deposition next week, before the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment in order to avoid a trial.

Trump has made himself available for a recorded deposition so far, but a judge argued that the game has changed now that the election is over, NBC News reported.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid issued an order that Trump sit down for an in-person deposition the week of Dec. 16. She argued that while Trump previously had a "fairly good argument" that he was too busy to do so during the campaign, "he’s now in a completely different posture, and he should be able to make himself available."
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Stephanopoulos will be permitted to do his deposition remotely, the judge ruled.
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ABC has stood by Stephanopoulos since the interview. The suit against ABC recently saw the start date for a jury trial pushed from April 2025 to June 2025 after both sides sought extensions.

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About U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid

Magistrate Judge Lissette Reid was appointed as a federal magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on January 3, 2019.

Born in Trinidad, West Indies, she moved to the United States with her family at the age of six and settled in Missouri. Inspired by her parents’ pursuit of their educational goals, she graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Missouri in 1983, and a law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1986.
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She joined the civil division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in 1995, where she served as a civil litigator handling employment discrimination, Federal Tort Claims Act cases, and other civil cases on behalf of the United States. In 1997, she transferred to the appellate division where she wrote hundreds of appellate briefs and argued both civil and criminal cases before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

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