Court orders ABC News to pay Donald Trump USD$15 million in defamation settlement

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Saturday, December 14, 2024 

George Stephanopoulos
Image: The White House.

Writer E. Jean Carroll accused US president-elect Donald Trump of rape in 2019.
Image: julieannesmo, J JMesserly.

On Saturday, A New York court ordered ABC News to pay USD$15 million to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library in a defamation settlement against anchor George Stephanopoulos. The lawsuit originated from a March 10 interview on This Week, where Stephanoplus inaccurately claimed US president-elect Donald Trump had been found "liable" for the rape of former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll during a program he was the host of.

In the interview, Stephanopoulos pressed US congresswoman Nancy Mace, a sexual assault victim, regarding her continued support for Trump. Stephanopoulos repeated the assertion that "judges and two separate juries have found [Trump] liable for rape" ten times during the interview, the BBC said.

In the lawsuit that was the subject of the exchange in the interview, Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll, who in 2019 alleged that he raped her in a luxury department store across the street from Trump Tower in the 1990s. The state of New York distinguishes sexual assault from rape.

ABC News made a statement expressing on its website "regret" for statements made by Stephanopoulos.

The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll, and he was ordered to pay the victim US$5 million. A second suit found him liable for further defamation, requiring him to pay her US$83.3 million. Trump denied the claim, and maintained that he never met Carroll. He expressed intentions to appeal both verdicts.

Sources

• Michael R. Sisak. "ABC agrees to give $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle defamation lawsuit" — AP News, December 14, 2024
• Robin Levinson-King. "Trump gets $15m in ABC News defamation case" — BBC, December 14, 2024