Trump filed his lawsuit against ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos days after a March 10 segment of This Week aired. During the segment, Stephanopoulos repeatedly misstated and misrepresented the outcome of E. Jean Carroll’s civil claims against the former president.
ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to settle allegations that anchor George Stephanopoulos defamed Donald Trump by repeatedly saying that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll.
According to National Public Radio, the details of the agreement were publicized on Saturday.
As part of the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library. The network will also post a note to its website apologizing or otherwise expressing regret for Stephanopoulos’ statements on the March 10 segment of This Week.
ABC News will also be responsible for paying about $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s attorney.
“We’re pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News said in a statement.
The Associated Press reports that, while the settlement was announced on Saturday, it was signed by all interested parties on Friday. Earlier in the same day, a Florida-based federal judge had ordered both Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for separate depositions.
Since an agreement has been reached, neither Trump nor Stephanopoulos will have to submit sworn testimony.
Trump, adds The Associated Press, filed his lawsuit against ABC News and Stephanopoulos days after the March 10 segment of This Week aired. During the segment, Stephanopoulos repeatedly misstated and misrepresented the outcome of E. Jean Carroll’s civil claims against the former president.
Speaking to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Stephanopoulos emphasized that Trump had both been “found liable for rape” and for “defaming the victim of that rape.”
Trump was held liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but the New York jury deciding the case determined that Caroll had not provided sufficient evidence to uphold for claims of rape.
In later proceedings, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan observed that the jury’s unanimous verdict was almost entirely in favor of Carroll, with the exception of its finding that she had been unable to prove that Trump raped her “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.”
Kaplan said that the verdict should not be construed to mean that Caroll had “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word rape.’ Indeed […] the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
Under the terms of the settlement, ABC News must transfer $15 million for Trump’s presidential library to an escrow account that is being managed by the president-elect’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
Sources
ABC agrees to give $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle defamation lawsuit
ABC agrees to give $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle lawsuit
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