US President-elect Donald Trump has reached a settlement with ABC News and its top anchor, George Stephanopoulos, in a defamation lawsuit he filed.
According to the agreement presented publicly on Saturday and reported by FOX News, the agreement, which was to avoid a costly trial, will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.
ABC News, according to the agreement, will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for the plaintiff, as has been established by presidents of the United States of America in the past.”
Additionally, the new network will pay a sum of $1 million in Trump's legal fees, while both defendants will issue statements of “regret” as an editor's note at the end of a March 10, 2024 online article, over comments made earlier this year that led Trump to file a defamation lawsuit.
“ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret the statements about President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Representative Nancy Mace on ABC's This Week on March 10, 2024,” the statement read.
Why is ABC News apologizing?
ABC News anchor Stephanopoulos during a controversial interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R.S.C. In March, he claimed that Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil case, this claim led Trump to file a defamation lawsuit.
After playing a clip of Mace talking about being a rape victim, Stephanopoulos asked him, “How do you reconcile your support for Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
Alluding to the legal victory of Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll, Stephanopoulos said: “You have endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two different juries have found him responsible for rape and defaming the victim of that rape.”
Despite a jury's determination that Trump was liable for “sexual abuse,” which has a different definition under New York law, Stephanopoulos made the claim repeatedly during his dispute with Mace.
According to Fox News, Judge Lewis Kaplan, a federal jury, after finding Trump responsible for sexual abuse but not rape, wrote in a later ruling that Carroll's failure to prove rape “within the meaning of the New York Criminal Law does not mean “This means that she could not prove that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape.'”
Stephanopoulos' previous reaction
Stephanopoulos initially told CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert that he would not feel “intimidated from doing my job because of a threat.”
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“Trump sued me because I used the word 'rape,' even though a judge said that's what happened. We filed a motion to dismiss,” Stephanopoulos said.
How the parties chose to reach an agreement
US Judge Lisette M. Reid had on Friday ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to appear for depositions next week before the December 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment, in order to avoid a trial .
This was the genesis of the settlement in the lawsuit in which Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh represented Donald Trump.
The agreement with ABC was filed in the Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida, where both parties signed and agreed to the terms.
The deal comes after a series of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal counsel Boris Epshteyn.
Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, claiming the network engaged in “deceptive conduct” in order to interfere in the election in its October interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
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