Big win for Trump: ABC News agree to pay $15 mn payout in defamation case filed by President-elect

ABC News and its anchor George Stephanopoulos have agreed to pay US President-elect Donald Trump a whopping $15 million as part of a settlement in the defamation lawsuit filed by the Republican firebrand. The money will go to a foundation and museum established by Trump. In addition to this, both ABC News and Stephanopoulos agreed to issue statements of regret surrounding the case.

The lawsuit surrounded a March interview Stephanopoulos had with South Carolina’s Republican representative – and Trump ally – Nancy Mace in which he repeatedly claimed that the president-elect was found “liable for rape”. Stephanopoulos was talking about the lawsuit filed by the columnist E. Jean Carroll. The writer accused Trump of sexually assaulting and raping her at Bergdorf Goodman, a New York City department store, in the 1990s.

Last year, a New York jury found that Trump had “sexually abused” Carroll, but did not rape her. Trump was eventually ordered to pay $83.3 million after he was found liable for defamation claims. Following Stephanopoulos’s March interview, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the US network and Stephanopoulos, one of ABC News’s main anchors.

A major win for Trump

Soon after the lawsuit was filed, Stephanopoulos took a defiant stance on the matter. While speaking to talk show host Stephen Colbert in May, the journalist said that he would not be “cowed out of doing my job because of a threat”.

According to the Saturday settlement, ABC News was obligated to “transfer in the amount of fifteen million US dollars … to be made to a presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for [Donald Trump], as presidents of the United States of America have established in the past … .”

The settlement also maintained that ABC News and Stephanopoulos “shall publicly publish the following statement by adding it as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article [surrounding Stephanopoulos’s interview]: ‘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 network was also asked to pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees. Not only this, Trump is now allowed to file a dismissal of the lawsuit and “take whatever other actions necessary to ensure that the action is dismissed in its entirety with prejudice”.

In a separate statement to The Hill, an ABC News spokesperson reacted to the news. “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” the spokesperson averred. Trump is yet to publicly comment on the matter.

With inputs from agencies.