The US President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to a
settlement with ABC News and its top anchor, George
Stephanopoulos , in a defamation suit he filed.
According to the settlement was publicly filed on
Saturday and reported by FOX News, the agreement, which was to avoid a costly
trial, will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.
ABC News, according to the settlement, will 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.”
Additionally, a sum of $1 million will be paid by the
new network in Trump’s attorney fees while both defendants will issue
statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024,
online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to
file a defamation lawsuit.
“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
statement reads.
Why is ABC News apologising?
The ABC News anchor, Stephanopoulos, had, during a
contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in March, asserted that
Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil case; this claim prompted Trump to
file a defamation suit.
After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim
of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, “How do you square your endorsement of
Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
Alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean
Carroll, Stephanopoulos said, “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.”
Despite a jury’s determination that Trump was liable
for “sexual abuse,” which has a distinct definition under New York law,
Stephanopoulos repeatedly claimed his spat with Mace.
According to Fox News, Judge Lewis Kaplan, a federal
jury, after finding Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, wrote in a
later ruling that just because Carroll failed to prove rape “within the meaning
of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump
‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’
Stephanopoulos initially told CBS late-night host
Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be “cowed out of doing my job because of a
threat.”
“Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even
though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen. We filed a motion to
dismiss,” Stephanopoulos said.
How the parties opted for settlement
The U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid had on
Friday ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for depositions next week ahead
of the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary
judgment, to avoid a trial.
This was the genesis of the settlement in the lawsuit
where Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh represented Donald
Trump.
The settlement with ABC was filed in the Southern
District of Florida Federal Court where both parties signed and agreed to the
terms.
The settlement comes after a string of legal victories
for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris
Epshteyn.
Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in
damages, stating the network practised “deceptive conduct” for election
interference in its interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris.
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