30 thoughts on “The Truth – or Alternative Fact – and Nothing But”

  1. CBS:

    Washington — President-elect Donald Trump has been ordered by a federal judge to sit for a deposition next week in his defamation lawsuit against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos. 
    Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid issued the order on Friday saying Trump will have to give an in-person deposition next week as part of the lawsuit he filed against ABC News in March that alleged Stephanopoulos made defamatory comments on air. 
    In a March 10 interview with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Stephanopoulos said that Trump had been “found liable for rape.” 
    Last year, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll and defaming her with statements he made denying Carroll’s allegations. The judge who heard the case said the sexual abuse that Trump was found liable for — forcibly penetrating Carroll with his fingers — is commonly understood as “rape,” even though the statute defines it as a separate offense.
    In his complaint, Trump accused Stephanopoulos of acting “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth,” and claimed Stephanopoulos “knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false.” 
    Judge Reid said Trump’s deposition will be in person next week in the Southern District of Florida, which is where his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach is located. The questioning will be limited to four hours, Reid said. 
    Reid also ordered Stephanopoulos to sit for a deposition next week, either in person or remotely. His deposition is also limited to four hours. 

    Trump Ordered to Sit for Deposition in ABC News Defamation Suit – The New York Times

    “No reason for delay”: Trump must sit for deposition in defamation suit against ABC, judge rules

  2. Oh, wouldn’t that be fun? I do not envy Dumbass’ attorneys if they are trying to prep him. I give him an 80% chance of setting up a dismissal on summary judgment. 

  4. pogo, won’t they be tempted to just drop their own lawsuit or in the alternative find a way to delay ’til he’s inaugurated — you know the magic moment when he no longer has to (according to the supremes) tell the truth or account for anything?

  5. Patd, they could but I don’t think so. He’s too vain for that and he’s not protected from participating in civil suits. Remember Jones v. Clinton?

  6. I couldn’t believe that one survived motion to dismiss. It was just another of his many performative lawsuits. The one against Hillary got him a dismissal and a one million dollar sanction for wasting the court’s time.

  7. Anticipatory corporate obedience also a thing as Hitler took power.

    HITLER FUND GETS ‘VOLUNTARY’ GIFTS
    Amounts German Business Men Are to Contribute to It Are Specified in Invitations. VARY ON BASIS OF PAYROLL — New York Times (Berlin, June 16, 1933)
    https://nyti.ms/3VCLuRo

  8. pogo,

    Jones v. Clinton, like Roe was, might be looked at differently nowadays.

    BTW, never heard whether or not my suggestion the other day about the viability of current POTUS immediately replacing Wray to restore the non-political intent congress had as basis for establishing the 10 year term for FBI Director.   Isn’t a prez able to move around any of his appointees who’ve already been confirmed by Senate to a slot without requiring confirmation to the new post (altho should be no prob with the current Senate doing a fast-track confirmation like Mitch’s did for Amy) ?   

    Joe’s got some pretty eligible folk he could call upon (for example HHS sec Xavier Bacerra, former congressman, former AG and dep AG of CA yada yada yada) who would bravely fight and fend off a firing by djt on day one. 

    Joe would be securing the high road intended for a 10-term track by such a move.  

  9. POTUS Joe could preemptively pardon George, ABC, and its parent company because according to Citizens United, corporations are people, too. 

  10. https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/14/asia/south-korea-yoon-second-impeachment-hnk-intl/index.html
     

    “South Korea’sparliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday in an extraordinary rebuke that came about after his own ruling party turned on him following his refusal to resign over his short-lived martial law attempt.”
     
    “.. and means Yoon is suspended from exercising his powers until the decision is finally adjudicated by the country’s Constitutional Court.”
     
     
     
    *I have South Korea envy.

  18. maybe now she’ll stop wearing those stiletto heels, specially walking on the marble floors & stairs of Cap’l.

    CBS via msn

    Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underwent a successful hip replacement after being hospitalized during a trip to Luxembourg, her office said Saturday. 

    “Earlier this morning, Speaker Emerita Pelosi underwent a successful hip replacement and is well on the mend,” spokesperson Ian Krager said in a statement. 

    The operation was conducted at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Landstuhl Army Base in Germany, her office said. The Defense Department provided medevac support to transport Pelosi there from Luxembourg. 

    The spokesperson added,  “Speaker Pelosi is grateful to U.S. military staff at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Landstuhl Army Base and medical staff at Hospital Kirchberg in Luxembourg for their excellent care and kindness.”

    Pelosi was in Luxembourg as part of a congressional delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, CBS News previously reported. Pelosi “sustained an injury during an official engagement.” She was admitted to Kirchberg Hospital in the northeast of Luxembourg City hospital for evaluation. 

    Sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that Pelosi injured her left leg in a fall. Krager declined to specify the nature or severity of the injury at the time. 

  19. https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/14/politics/trump-abc-news-defamation-lawsuit-settle/index.html

    “The settlement was filed publicly Saturday and reveals ABC will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for the Plaintiff.”
     
    “The network will also pay $1 million in Trump’s attorneys’ fees.   Trump filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court earlier this year, arguing that Stephanopoulos and ABC News defamed him when the anchor said 10 times during a contentious on-air interview with South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in March that a jury found Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll.”

    “The jury did not find that Carroll proved Trump had raped her. Instead, a judge concluded months later when dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll that the claim Trump raped Carroll was “substantially true.” The judge wrote in August 2023 that Trump “raped” her in the broader sense of that word, as people generally understand it, though not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law.“
     
    *Boo! The orange, adjudicated rapist gets a bag of cash for a presidential museum.  Just imagine what a carnival of falsehoods that place will contain.  The most huge and bigly grift shop ever.

  20. ABC forced to pay $15 million

    look at it as their way of paying up protection money like those techies did with their millions toward his inauguration.

    that money will probably go to pay bills for mal an ego or nj golf club prez library

  22. patD –
    “The settlement was filed publicly Saturday and reveals ABC will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for the Plaintiff.”
     
    *Like I said, the grift shop at the museum should be wild. 

  24. Well, I guess I stand corrected. What bullshit. Defamation is a very hard case to prove. Sounds like ABC takes Dumbass’ threats seriously. Maybe they should. I certainly hope that there was a back room agreement that George and ABC will not face criminal exposure in exchange for the settlement. 

  26. https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/14/europe/georgia-president-vote-mikheil-kavelashvili-intl/index.html
    “Georgian lawmakers voted in a far-right former soccer star as the country’s next president on Saturday, deepening tensions between the pro-Russian government and pro-Western opposition amid mounting popular anger over the former’s decision to halt European Union accession talks.”
     
    *I know better, but I really wish those drones were aliens.  

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