Stephanopoulos/ABC apologize to Trump, ordered to pay $15 mill 2 settle defamation suit

[army judge]

FIRST ON FOX– ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News 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, the network will pay $1 million in Trump's attorney fees.

Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to 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 the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, "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."

ABC News said the network was "pleased" to have concluded the case.

"We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he asserted that Trump was found "liable for rape" in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last March.

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?"

"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," Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.

Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for "sexual abuse," which has a distinct definition under New York law.

After the federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan 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.'"

Initially, Stephanopoulos was defiant in the face of Trump's lawsuit, telling 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.

The settlement came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos on Friday to sit for depositions next week ahead of the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment, in order to avoid a trial.

In his lawsuit against Stephanopoulos and ABC, Trump was represented by Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh. The settlement with ABC was filed in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court where both parties signed and agreed to the terms.

George Stephanopoulos and ABC apologize to Trump, are forced to pay $15 million to settle defamation suit

ABC News and George Stephanopoulos agreed to settle with President-elect Donald Trump in regards to his defamation suit against the news network.

www.foxnews.com

 

[Tax Counsel]

I'm not surprised. Statistics show around 95% of federal civil cases end in settlement. This one was ripe for settlement. The depositions alone were likely to be costly and the nature of the lawsuit didn't make either ABC or Trump look good. Arguing over whether Stephanopoulos was defaming Trump by stating that Trump had been found liable for rape when in fact he was found liable for sexual assault is the kind of legal hair splitting that most of the public don't appreciate and keeping that argument alive really did not do anyone any good (well, other than the lawyers). The outcome of the case at trial would not have revealed anything all that significant because all the relevant facts are already known and because it was essentially a hair splitting situation God only knows what the jury would have decided.

 

[stealthy1]

I'm not surprised. Statistics show around 95% of federal civil cases end in settlement. This one was ripe for settlement. The depositions alone were likely to be costly and the nature of the lawsuit didn't make either ABC or Trump look good. Arguing over whether Stephanopoulos was defaming Trump by stating that Trump had been found liable for rape when in fact he was found liable for sexual assault is the kind of legal hair splitting that most of the public don't appreciate and keeping that argument alive really did not do anyone any good (well, other than the lawyers). The outcome of the case at trial would not have revealed anything all that significant because all the relevant facts are already known and because it was essentially a hair splitting situation God only knows what the jury would have decided.

Still a shame that they caved. Bootlickers.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Still a shame that they caved. Bootlickers.

I would have likely have told ABC to settle it if I was representing it, though I would try to get the amount paid down as much as I could. It's not an issue of sucking up to Trump. It all comes down to the fact that litigating this may well have cost ABC much more than the $15 million and this provides certainty on the result, something the stock market likes too. Most that money is going to fund the future Trump presidential library and his lawyers, so it's not like this is cash Trump can spend on himself. The contribution, if done right, should be tax deductible for ABC too.

Stephanopoulos also avoids having to pay any judgment out of this too, though when it comes to renegotiate his contract ABC might not be as generous as it otherwise would be to help offset some of the cost for this that the network pays.

Sure, Trump will crow about having "won" the case and I'm sure he's glad that the dent to his reputation out of this is somewhat repaired. He gets a definite outcome on this before inauguration day, which is important politically.

Whether he'd get $15 million if he took the case to trial is impossible to predict. But given what I know of the case, Trump would have won on the issue of whether he was defamed. Stephanopoulos and his ABC staff should have done a better job to ensure that he would get his facts right before stepping before the camera.

 

[stealthy1]

I do understand that. But I stand by my visceral reaction.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I do understand that. But I stand by my visceral reaction.

I understand that. Yours is a political reaction though, not a legal or business one.

The fault here was nothing that Trump did. ABC's employee Stephanopoulos is the one at fault for not checking his facts before making those statements to a million or more viewers. Substitute some other politician of either party for Trump and ABC would likely done the same thing, though the amount of setttlement and the other details of it would be different. In short, ABC made a business decision, the kind big corporations make all the time with regards to lawsuits against them.

I don't like Trump at all, but he is deserving of the same treatment under the law as anyone esle would. At least ABC got the deal to put most of the money into Trump's presidential library, which will be overseen by the National Archives. The main thing that Trump himself gets out of it is some repair to his reputation. Given the facts, Trump was owed at least that, IMO.

 

[army judge]

I don't like Trump at all, but he is deserving of the same treatment under the law as anyone esle would. At least ABC got the deal to put most of the money into Trump's presidential library, which will be overseen by the National Archives. The main thing that Trump himself gets out of it is some repair to his reputation. Given the facts, Trump was owed at least that, IMO.