By: Mark Glennon*
Gov. JB Pritzker has said repeatedly that Donald Trump is an “adjudicated rapist.” That’s false, and those statements are not meaningfully different than the basis of a defamation claim made by Trump, which has now been settled in his favor.
ABC News and its program host, George Stephanopoulos, on Saturday settled a defamation suit brought by Donald Trump. Under the terms of the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Trump and pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. Additionally, ABC and Stephanopoulos issued statements of “regret” about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit.
The statements by Stephanopoulos that were the subject of the defamation action are substantially identical to a claim repeatedly made by Gov. JB Pritzker.
Specifically, Stephanopoulos said several times during an interview broadcast in March that Trump was found “liable for rape.” That was in reference to a civil case brought by E. Jean Carrol over an assault by Trump she alleged occurred in 1995 or 1996. However, the court in that 2023 case found Trump liable for sexual abuse, not rape. The jury expressly rejected a rape allegation, as shown in its written findings here.
Pritzker on many occasions has called Trump an “adjudicated rapist” in various public statements and interviews. In a news conference in July, for example, he said, “It’s still true that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, has been a congenital liar and is unfit for the office of president of the United States.” And in June, on X (Twitter), he wrote, “Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist, and a congenital liar. He’s a racist, sexist, misogynistic narcissist who wants to use the levers of power to enrich himself and punish anyone who dares speak a word against him.” Multiple other examples can be found easily.
By settling the lawsuit against them, ABC and Stephanopoulos apparently concluded they faced substantial risk that a court would agree with Trump that it was defamatory to say Trump was found liable for rape. Should he choose to make one, Trump certainly appears to have a viable defamation claim against Pritzker for saying Trump is an adjudicated rapist.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
UPDATE 12/16/24: From Politico: “President-elect Donald Trump on Monday promised to continue his siege against the media, pledging to move forward with more litigation after winning a $15 million settlement in a defamation suit against ABC.”
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Hoo boy! Wait for alligator arms JB to actually dip into his deep pockets to pay for something without using the taxpayers money. He’ll have a stroke.
Many national stories are now reporting calls for Trump to bring this lawsuit, and it’s this column that initially brought attention to the issue.
Trump can sue Pritzker too.
Trump has many things to think about and deal with. I am sure he will get around to suing fat boy.
OH, it just keeps getting better and BETTER, lol…!!! This just in, one of many headlines about the humiliation of Boy Justin; Google for more, Freeland *very* publicly ripped him a new one: Donald Trump may just have toppled Justin Trudeau’s government Chrystia Freeland’s resignation is a stunning blow to Canada’s PM. Impending US tariffs are one of the proximate causes “The final nail in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s political coffin may have been delivered on Monday morning. The person holding the metaphorical hammer? Chrystia Freeland, who had been one of the most respected and trusted ministers in the… Read more »
“Toilets” needs to get sued. Get a punishment on the glutton’s record for when he tries to run for President in 2028. It will be fun to see an actual barrel of pork run against JD Vance!
“I’m going to build my Presidential Museum and the Happy Meal Warrior is going to pay for it!”
Doubt if Trump goes after him. But I wish he would.
Byron York has done a particularly good job covering the underlying lawsuit by Ms. Carrol. The whole thing was a bunk political hit job from the start, and the judge was out to get Trump. See York’s piece today here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/e-mail-daily-memo/?rid=24916946&env=560de6116383f41dc06c72907b48701f18fc5f8a06dbd3cc679782b4090f3a57
Thanks for this exclusive take, Mark. I didn’t think of it until you mentioned it! Another thing, this is defamation per se. The courts consider defamation per se statements so inherently harmful that, unlike regular defamation, plaintiffs don’t need to prove actual damages and the burden of proof shifts somewhat.
Most don’t know how big of a hit job the Carroll case was or that she went on Anderson Cooper and explicitly stated: “Rape is sexy.” Also, she likes to paint the trees in her yard blue and has a cat named Vagina T. Fireball.
This is one of many videos out there that display her true character. The perversion of justice that took place in NY is a danger to all of us.
https://youtu.be/ldP8YNAPlTw?si=KFMARa13NWTx2WsI
The NY State Legislature passed a law to extend the statute of limitations, for one year only, just so Ms. Carrol could bring her lawsuit, because the statute of limitations had long passed. Her lawsuit was the only lawsuit that was filed under this new law. The lawsuit was financed by Reid Hoffman, the founder of Linkedin and rabid Trump hater. I hope that the DOJ brings federal charges against everyone involved in this sham. I hope Kash Patel appoints an entire team of people in the DOJ to prosecute everyone who tried to ‘get Trump’ with lawfare. You know… Read more »
Reid Hoffman it is said may figure prominently in the Epstein Tapes.
Norman Eisen is the chief architect behind the Trump lawfare. https://www.brookings.edu/people/norman-eisen/
Fanni Willis now disqualified from prosecuting Trump. The hits just keep coming.
Good call, Mark. Trump should hold the swinish Pritzker accountable for his slanders.
On the bright side JB can afford to pay a large settlement.
Exactly. And that fact should effect the dollar value of the damages that are sought by Trump. It needs to be enough to really sting JB. How about $2 Billion? About half of JB’s net worth should get his attention.
Spot on Tommy. Let’s call it “progressive equitable inclusive” justice.
Gosh, maybe I could become a Democratic Party consultant. Who’s got Caraville’s cellphone number?
Lol, Old Joe… Carville is REALLY pissed at how the dems screwed up, Google for some of his recent YouTube rants – wonderful…!!!
Carville is a hateful cadaver that is late for the undertaker.
Lol, true, he looks like Skeletor…
Oh, wouldn’t that be fantastic !? Hope it happens to the tune of 20 million.
200 million would be more appropriate.
Perhaps JB’s defense could be that no thoughtful person believes anything he says.
One of the things I find most frustrating about Trump is that he has many opportunities to punish his lying detractors and make them eat their words, whether in court or through the media, but only pulls the trigger randomly. His reluctance to really teach these liars a lesson only allows them to come back and torment him even further. Between the View, Joy Reid, Joe Scarborough, et al, he could win enough judgements to be rolling in Musk level money and, more importantly, throw these people upon the scrap heap that they belong on.
Shekel grubbers howl at the cost of spending their own money. Wait until Trump gets in office and the DOJ starts investigating the Pritzker Foundation. Jumbo Belly and family will be sweating bullets.
What makes you think the DOJ will investigate the Pritzker foundation.
They are knee deep in some sketchy things. Do a search on Pritzker and transgenderism. I ran across an article about 5 years ago detailing their work behind the scenes. Here’s a more recent one. https://vermontdailychronicle.com/christopher-rufo-peers-inside-pritzker-transgender-empire/
Give him a chance. He is a busy man.
Just a little humor look at the picture posted same tie same jacket and smug looks.
JB looks like he is “straining at the stool”, lol…