ABC News has settled the defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump after its anchor George Stephanopoulos said he was “found liable for rape,” instead of “sexual abuse,” resulting in the network having to now pay $15 million to the President-elect’s presidential library.
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ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation lawsuit and they have agreed to pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a Trump presidential foundation and museum.
As a refresher, Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos after he claimed that Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil lawsuit during an interview with South Carolina Congresswoman (R) Nancy Mace last March.
In the heated interview, Stephanopoulos played a clip of Mace talking about being a victim of rape, he asked her, “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?” Alluding to Trump being found liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll in a May 2023 verdict, Stephanopoulos added, “You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape.”
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ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos would go on to repeat the “rape” claim about ten times during the back and forth with Congresswoman Nancy Mace, even though a jury actually found Donald Trump liable for “sexual abuse,” which holds a different definition under New York law.
On Saturday (December 14), the settlement was publicly filed and revealed that the two parties came to an agreement just before a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million as a charitable contribution 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.” The network will also pay $1 million for Donald Trump’s attorney fees.
Additionally, ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos agreed to issue statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024 article on its website, which published comments earlier this year that prompted Trump to file his defamation lawsuit against the network and its anchor.
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In the article titled, “Nancy Mace defends her support for Trump after he was found liable for sexual assault,” the note reads: “Editor’s Note: 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.”
Additionally, ABC News said that its network was very happy to have finalized Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit over its anchor George Stephanopoulos. A spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.”
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