ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to a “presidential foundation and museum” and $1 million in legal fees as part of a settlement with President-elect Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit, according to court documents filed Saturday. The lawsuit was sparked by comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos during a March 2024 broadcast.
As part of the settlement, ABC News will also issue a formal apology. The network plans to add an editor’s note to the online article at the center of the dispute, stating:
“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.”
An ABC News spokesperson confirmed the agreement in a statement, saying, “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.”
The legal battle began earlier this year when Trump filed the defamation suit in federal court in Florida. He argued that Stephanopoulos and ABC News mischaracterized a jury’s findings related to allegations made by writer E. Jean Carroll. During an on-air interview with South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, Stephanopoulos repeatedly said a jury found that Trump had “raped” Carroll, a claim Trump denied.
Carroll had accused Trump of raping her in a department store in the mid-1990s and sued him for defamation after he denied the allegations. While the jury in the 2023 case found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, it stopped short of determining that rape had been proven under the legal definition.
The settlement brings the contentious legal dispute to a close as Trump prepares to assume the presidency in January.
By: DNU staff