Last March, President-elect Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos. Today, it was announced that the news network and anchor have settled the suit, agreeing to apologize and pay $16 million.
What’s Happening:
- The Wrap reports that Donald Trump has settled his defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos.
- The settlement will see the news network and the anchor publicly apologize to Trump, pay $1 million of his legal fees for the case, and donate $15 million to a presidential foundation.
- In a shared statement by ABC News and Stephanopoulos, they shared “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.”
- The President-elect filed the suit in March after Stephanopoulos engaged in a fiery conversation about Trump’s Manhattan rape case with Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
- Mace, who is a rape survivor, endorsed Trump as a presidential candidate, prompting Stephanopoulos to dig into Trump’s Manhattan case brought upon him by E. Jean Carroll.
- While Trump was found liable for sexual battery and defamation by a jury, it was not a criminal court case, prompting Trump to file the suit.
- When the suit was initially filed, Stephanopoulos remained unconcerned with the legal drama, telling Stephen Colbert “Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen.”
- Judge Lewis Kaplan, who ruled in favor of E. Jean Carroll, clarified that the ruling came down New York’s limited legal definition of rape.
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