Did “Anonymous” leak proving Trump was arrested/convicted for abuse? Fact Check
Messages online claim that the computer hacking collective known an Anonymous has revealed documents showing that President Donald Trump, along with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was taken to court over sexual abuse and rape allegations made by a then 13 year old girl identified as Katie Johnson.
FALSE
The documents have resulted in confusion over exactly what they are attempting to convey. Some claim that the documents show that Trump was convicted of rape of a minor. Others claim the documents show that he was merely arrested and not convicted. While others claim the documents show that someone had filed a lawsuit and that is it.
The latter would be correct, though claims that Anonymous had leaked or revealed these documents to a previously unknowing public would be false. And that is because the court documents and the story itself have actually been in the public domain for some time. The story has gained little media traction since the case was thrown out of court twice and according to reports at the time, was considered to be a “political smear job”.
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Various outlets reported on the story in April 2016, when a woman who identified herself as “Katie Johnson” filed a lawsuit in California, claiming that Trump and Epstein sexually abused her. For example, this article from RadarOnline.
Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is fighting what could be the biggest election season bombshell yet — explosive court claims that he raped a woman when she was a teen.
The woman — identified as Katie Johnson — filed documents in a California court on April 26, accusing Trump and billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein of “sexual abuse under threat of harm” and “conspiracy to deprive civil rights,” RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
Only a handful of days later, the case was thrown out by the judge after the accuser, who had been representing themselves, attempting to avoid paying legal fees incurred by the case.
The $100 million rape lawsuit against Donald Trump has been dismissed, RadarOnline.com has learned.
A judge recommended on April 29 that “Katie Johnson” should have to pay her own attorneys’ fees and court costs related to the $100 million lawsuit she brought against Trump and billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein over alleged sexual assault charges. Then on May 2, a U.S. District judge ordered the entire lawsuit thrown out.
“Johnson” had previously filed forms asking to be let off the hook for the costs of the lawsuit, claiming she had only $300 to her name.
At that time, then candidate Donald Trump denied the allegations.
The allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated
“Katie Johnson” appeared again in New York, and in June 2016 filed another lawsuit. However a strange turn of events in which Johnson and the people helping finance her second lawsuit ended up turning on each other. This article from The Daily Beast attempts to explain some of what happened.
Whatever the specifics, Johnson failed to turn up to any scheduled press conferences, and the lawsuit was ultimately dropped in November 2016.
No one has ever seen or publicly interviewed Katie Johnson about the allegations, save for a pixelated video featuring someone purporting to be Johnson who iterated the complaints outlined in the court documents.
In addition to that, the court documents supposedly leaked by Anonymous have also been available for some time. Here is a link to the court documents from the first lawsuit in California. Here is a link to the documents from the second lawsuit in New York.
However, the claim here is that Anonymous revealed all of this in May 2020. Which they obviously did not, since there are numerous public records and stories about this, as well as a public denial form Trump himself. As such, we rank the claim false.