Jacob Rees-Mogg GB News segment on Trump verdict branded 'horrific new low'

Tory MP and now GB News broadcaster Jacob Rees-Mogg has been criticised after he and his guests appeared to defend Donald Trump after the former US president's trial last night.

Trump sexually abused magazine columnist E Jean Carroll in a New York department store in the 1990s, a jury found, and also found him liable for defamation for calling the writer's accusations "a hoax and a lie".

Trump was also found not liable for raping the writer in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman and the Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay her about $5m (£4m) in damages.

Reacting to the verdict, Rees-Mogg interviewed Republican Trump supporter Kari Lake who decried the "barrage of negativity" that had apparently been waged against the former president.

She also accused the media of "lying and defaming the president" and claimed the New York jury was unduly "liberal" and had conducted a "witch hunt" against Trump.

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"I think they are trying to set things up going into the next election where he looks so damaged," she said, adding those charging Trump want to convince voters to "move on".

She added that as a mother of a son, she worried about it being "dangerous for all men in this country" for those accused of sexual assault to go to trial."

As for Rees-Mogg, he said Trump had been found "not guilty" - and while that is true of the rape accusation, it seemed pretty misleading given he was found guilty on two other counts.

People thought the segment was outrageous.

Jessica Simor, a leading lawyer, said the clip was "absolutely extraordinary," and accused Rees-Mogg of "careful and intentional twisting".

Liam Thorp, political editor of the Liverpool Echo called the segment "a horrific new low for Rees-Mogg and the embarrassing GB News".

Here's what some other social media users had to say about it:

"Today, the world finally knows the truth," Carroll said in a written statement following the verdict. "This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed."

Trump's lawyer said the former president plans to appeal against the decision.

After the verdict, he posted on his social media platform Truth Social in all capital letters: "I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.

"This verdict is a disgrace - a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!"

Meanwhile, the criticism of Rees-Mogg and his show comes after GB News was slapped on the wrist by media watchdog Ofcom over an October 2022 interview with a Covid vaccine sceptic – in which the jab was compared to “mass murder”.

Ofcom said the episode of The Mark Steyn Show, which featured an interview with Canadian author Dr Naomi Wolf, who claimed the vaccine rollout was a pre-meditated crime amounting to “mass murder”, and was comparable to the actions of “doctors in pre-Nazi Germany”, was in “significant breach” of its code.

The busy regulator is also currently investigating whether a GB News Saturday Morning with Esther and Philip broadcast on 11 March 2023 in which they interviewed chancellor Jeremy Hunt broke rules requiring news to be presented with due impartiality, given the married couple are both Tory MPs.

indy100 has contacted GB News and Rees-Mogg to comment on this story.

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