Washington CNN —A federal judge on Wednesday refused to dismiss former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos over the anchor’s assertion that a jury concluded Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll. Trump filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court earlier this year, arguing that Stephanopoulos and the network defamed him when Stephanopoulos said during a contentious on-air interview with Rep. Nancy Mace that a jury found Trump had “raped” Carroll, a writer whose own cases against Trump led to him being found liable for sexual abuse. ABC News did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment. In the Trump-ABC lawsuit, US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote Wednesday that these definitions were different enough to let the case move forced. His analysis necessarily focused on what Carroll had and had not proved at trial, as well as the harm Carroll experienced from (Trump’s) abuse.

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