Trump Awarded $15 million in Defamation Case against ABC News

ABC News has agreed to pay $15m to US President-elect Donald Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after its star anchor falsely said he has been found “Liable for rape”. 

George Stephanopoulos said that over and over twice again on March 10 this year in an interview when he was challenging a Congresswoman on her support for Trump.

Last year, he was found liable for "sexual abuse," as defined under New York law, in a civil suit.

Apart from that settlement that was reported first by Fox News Digital on Saturday, ABC also put up an editor's note regretting the statements made by Stephanopoulos.

As part of the settlement, ABC News will contribute $15 million to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for the Plaintiff, as previous U.S. Presidents have done."

Reports from the USA say that the amount would be used for the future presidential library of Donald Trump worth $15 million. 

The network has agreed to contribute $1 million toward the payment of Trump's legal fees. Under the settlement, the editor's note will be opened at the bottom of its online news article dated March 10, 2024, with reference to this story. . 

It will say: "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 stated that the company was "pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit based on the terms outlined in the court filing."

In 2023, a New York civil court ruled that Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and was also found guilty of defaming the magazine columnist.

Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that the jury concluded Ms. Carroll had not proven that Trump raped her "within the narrow, technical meaning of a specific section of the New York Penal Law."

Judge Kaplan pointed out that the definition of rape was "far narrower" than its common understanding, as reflected in modern language, some dictionaries, and criminal statutes in other jurisdictions.

In a separate case, also overseen by the same judge, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to Ms. Carroll for additional defamatory remarks.

Trump is appealing both verdicts. 

During the March 10 broadcast, Stephanopoulos asked South Carolina Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace how she could support Trump. The anchor wrongly stated, "judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape."

Stephanopoulos repeated the claim ten times throughout the broadcast.

Prior to the ruling, a federal magistrate judge had instructed Trump and Stephanopoulos to provide sworn testimony at depositions the following week.

Donald Trump has also sued CBS, which is the American broadcast partner of the British Broadcasting Corporation, for "deceptive behavior" regarding the discussion of an interview with Kamala Harris. 

In 2023, he had his case filed with the judiciary invoking defamation against CNN, in which he alleged that the network compared him with Adolf Hitler, dismissed by the court. His cases against the New York Times and Washington Post have also been thrown out.