ABC News has agreed to pay US President-elect Donald Trump $15 million (£12 million) to settle a defamation suit after its star anchor falsely said he was found to be “responsible for rape”.
George Stephanopoulos repeatedly made these statements during an interview on March 10 of this year while challenging a congresswoman over her support for Trump.
Jury in a civil case Last year fix Trump was liable for “sexual assault,” which has a specific definition under New York law.
As part of Saturday's settlement, ABC will also publish a statement expressing its “regret” for Stephanopoulos' statements.
Under the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million in charitable contributions to “a Presidential Foundation and Museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as established by Presidents of the United States of America in the past.”
The network also agreed to pay $1 million for Trump's legal fees.
Under the settlement, the network will publish an editor's note at the bottom of its March 10, 2024 online news article about the story.
It will say: “ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret the statements made regarding President Donald J. Trump during an interview George Stephanopoulos conducted with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC's This Week on March 10, 2024.”
An ABC News spokesperson said in a statement that the company is “pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit in accordance with the terms contained in the court filing.”
In 2023, a New York civil court found that Trump had sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996. He was also found guilty of defaming the magazine columnist.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said the jury's conclusion was that Carroll failed to prove that Trump raped her “within the narrow technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Code.”
Judge Kaplan noted that the definition of rape is “much narrower” than the definition of rape in common modern language, in some dictionaries and in criminal codes elsewhere.
In a separate case, also presided over by the same judge, a jury ordered Trump to pay Ms. Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamatory statements.
During the March 10 broadcast, Stephanopoulos asked South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace how she could endorse Trump.
“Judges and two separate juries found him liable for rape,” the presenter falsely said.
Stephanopoulos repeated this claim 10 times throughout the broadcast.
Before the ruling, a federal judge ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to testify under oath at depositions next week.
Trump also sued CBS, the BBC's US broadcast partner, for “deceptive conduct” during an interview with Kamala Harris.
In 2023, The judge dismissed his defamation suit against CNN, where he claimed the network compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Lawsuits were also filed against The New York Times and The Washington Post, which were dismissed.
