ABC News to pay $15 million in settlement of Trump defamation lawsuit

ABC News has agreed to remit $15 million (£12 million) to US President-elect Donald Trump to resolve a defamation lawsuit. This action follows an incident where the network’s prominent anchor erroneously stated that Trump had been found “liable for rape.” George Stephanopoulos made these assertions repeatedly during an interview on March 10 of this year, while questioning a congresswoman about her endorsement of Trump. Last year, a jury in a civil proceeding determined that Trump was liable for “sexual abuse,” a term with a specific legal definition under New York law. As part of the settlement reached on Saturday, which was first reported by Fox News Digital, ABC also issued an editor’s note expressing its “regret” for Stephanopoulos’s statements. According to the terms of the settlement, ABC News will contribute $15 million as a charitable donation to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” US media outlets indicated that this $15 million is intended for Trump’s forthcoming presidential library. The network further agreed to cover $1 million of Trump’s legal fees. Under the settlement, an editor’s note will be appended to the bottom of the network’s online news article from March 10, 2024, concerning the story. It will say: “ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.” An ABC News spokesperson released a statement affirming the company was “pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.” In 2023, a New York civil court found that Trump sexually abused E Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996. He was also found responsible for defaming the magazine columnist. Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that the jury’s conclusion was that Ms. Carroll had not proven Trump raped her “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.” Judge Kaplan observed that the definition of rape was “far narrower” than its common modern usage, as well as definitions in some dictionaries and criminal statutes elsewhere. In a separate legal action, also presided over by the same judge, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Ms. Carroll for additional defamatory remarks. Trump is currently appealing both of these verdicts. During the March 10 broadcast, Stephanopoulos inquired of South Carolina Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace how she could support Trump. The anchor incorrectly stated, “judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape.” Stephanopoulos repeated this assertion ten times throughout the broadcast. Before the settlement, a federal magistrate judge had instructed Trump and Stephanopoulos to provide sworn testimony at depositions scheduled for the upcoming week. Trump has also filed a lawsuit against CBS, the BBC’s US broadcast partner, alleging “deceptive conduct” related to an interview with Kamala Harris. In 2023, a judge dismissed his defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which he claimed the network had compared him to Adolf Hitler. Additionally, lawsuits he initiated against The New York Times and The Washington Post have also been dismissed.