[caption id="attachment_33887" align="alignnone" width="1280"] (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)[/caption]

By Melanie Wilcox. Media: Dailycaller

New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has sparked controversy and backlash following a Friday post on X (formerly Twitter), in which she referred to President Donald Trump as “a rapist,” leading to widespread accusations of defamation and calls for legal action. Many users quickly pointed out that Trump was never found liable for rape in the civil case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll. In 2023, a New York jury did find Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but they did not find him liable for rape — a crucial legal distinction that critics argue Ocasio-Cortez intentionally overlooked in her tweet. Others joined the chorus of criticism, with one user suggesting that the congresswoman might want to take down her post, referencing ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos’s own legal issues over similar comments. In 2023, Trump sued Stephanopoulos and ABC News after the anchor claimed during an interview with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace that Trump had been “found liable for rape.” The lawsuit was settled in December 2024, with ABC agreeing to pay $16 million—$15 million allocated to Trump’s Presidential Library Foundation and $1 million to cover legal fees—and publicly apologized for the misinformation. Conservative activist Laura Loomer condemned Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet as defamatory, urging Trump to take similar legal action as he did against Stephanopoulos.