Headline
ABC News Seeks Settlement of $15 Million in Trump's Libel Lawsuit
ABC News and anchorman George Stephanopoulos have arrived at a resolution with Donald Trump, as indicated in legal documents submitted on Saturday, following the president's lawsuit against the network due to unfounded remarks made by Stephanopoulos, who inaccurately stated during a broadcast earlier this year that a jury declared Trump liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll.
Factual Points
Under the agreement, ABC News will contribute $15 million towards the establishment of a "presidential foundation and museum" planned by or for Trump in the future, along with $1 million for Trump's legal fees. According to court documents filed in the Southern District of Florida.
Trump initiated legal action against ABC News and Stephanopoulos in March, claiming that the network and anchor had defamed him by stating during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that Trump had been found "liable for rape" at least ten times (a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual misconduct).
A conciliatory note added to the court filing by ABC News and Stephanopoulos, who consented to retract their statements as part of the settlement, shares their "regret" for the remarks made about Trump during the interview.
The settlement enables Stephanopoulos and Trump to avoid sitting for depositions ordered by the court, which were scheduled for the coming week.
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Background
Trump filed a lawsuit against ABC News, Stephanopoulos, and accused them of broadcasting false, malicious, and damaging statements during the broadcast. The judge declined to dismiss the lawsuit in July, allegedly stating that the trial would center around whether the claim that a jury found Trump liable for rape was "substantially true," despite the jury's verdict stating that he was not guilty of rape. Carroll claimed that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s, first accusing him of wrongdoing in 2019 before filing a sexual assault claim in 2022. Trump dismissed her allegations, once suggesting that she was "not his type," which Carroll later argued added to her defamation. Following a two-week trial, a New York jury found Trump accountable for sexual misconduct but unanimously dismissed Carroll's claim that he had raped her. She was awarded $2 million in damages for sexual misconduct and approximately $3 million for defamation. Trump decried the verdict, labeling it as "an extension of the greatest witch hunt of all time."
In the settlement, ABC News agreed to contribute $15 million towards Donald Trump's future presidential foundation and museum, as stated in the court documents filed on Saturday. George Stephanopoulos, the anchorman from ABC News, also consented to retract his unfounded remarks about Trump during an interview, as per the conciliatory note added to the filing.