George Stephanopoulos and ABC to Apologize to Trump and Pay $15 Million in Defamation Settlement – One America News Network
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:25 PM – Saturday, December 14, 2024
ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos has settled a defamation lawsuit with President-elect Donald Trump, agreeing to pay him $15 million.
Advertisement
On Saturday, ABC News confirmed a settlement regarding a defamation lawsuit initiated by Trump. According to the terms, the network will donate $15 million to a charitable foundation and museum that will be created by or for Trump, similar to those established by previous U.S. Presidents. Furthermore, ABC News will also pay $1 million to cover Trump’s legal expenses.
The agreement necessitated that ABC News and George Stephanopoulos release a statement expressing regret. An editor’s note was appended to a March 10th, 2024 article online to clarify comments made during an interview on This Week.
“ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret the statements made regarding President Donald J. Trump during an interview conducted by Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024,” the note reads.
ABC News expressed their satisfaction with the resolution of the case.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit as outlined in the court filing,” an ABC News representative informed Fox News Digital.
Trump took legal action against Stephanopoulos for defamation after the anchor suggested during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) that Trump had been found “liable for rape” in a civil court.
Following a video excerpt of Mace discussing her own experience as a rape survivor, Stephanopoulos questioned, “How do you reconcile your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just viewed?”
“You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have deemed him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos remarked, referencing the legal ruling favoring Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos repeated this assertion multiple times during his exchange with Mace, despite a jury’s determination that Trump was actually found liable for “sexual abuse,” a term defined specifically under New York law.
After a federal jury ruled Trump liable for sexual abuse but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that the failure to prove rape “as defined by New York Penal Law does not imply that she did not demonstrate that Trump ‘raped’ her in commonly understood terms of the word.”
Initially, Stephanopoulos resisted the lawsuit, indicating he would not be intimidated into forgoing his duties.
“Trump filed a lawsuit against me for using the term ‘rape,’ even though a judge affirmed that’s precisely what occurred. We submitted a motion to dismiss,” Stephanopoulos stated.
The settlement followed U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid’s order for Trump and Stephanopoulos to attend depositions the following week, ahead of a December 24th deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment to prevent a trial.
The resolution with ABC was submitted in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court, where both parties accepted the terms.
Stay updated! Get breaking news notifications directly in your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below
