ABC Information pays $15 million to a “presidential basis and museum” in a settlement reached with President-elect Donald Trump in his defamation suit in opposition to the community and anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The settlement, which was filed publicly Saturday, reveals the community may even pay $1 million in Trump’s attorneys’ charges and can problem an apology.
ABC Information will problem the next assertion as an editor’s notice on the net article on the heart of the go well with: “ABC Information and George Stephanopoulos remorse statements relating to President Donald J. Trump made throughout an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”
“We’re happy that the events have reached an settlement to dismiss the lawsuit on the phrases within the court docket submitting,” an ABC Information spokesperson wrote in a press release.
Trump filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court docket earlier this yr, arguing that Stephanopoulos and ABC Information defamed him when the anchor mentioned 10 occasions throughout a contentious on-air interview with South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in March {that a} jury discovered Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in a division retailer within the mid-Nineties and that he defamed her when he denied her declare. Trump has denied all wrongdoing towards Carroll.
In 2023, a jury discovered that Trump sexually abused Carroll, ample to carry him responsible for battery, although it didn’t discover that Carroll proved he raped her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million for battery and defamation. In January, Carroll was awarded an additional $83.3 million in damages for defamatory statements made by Trump that disparaged her and denied her rape allegations.
A judge concluded in August 2023, when dismissing Trump’s countersuit in opposition to Carroll, that the declare Trump raped Carroll was “considerably true.” The choose wrote that Trump “raped” her within the broader sense of that phrase, as individuals typically perceive it, although not as it’s narrowly outlined by New York state regulation.
Within the lawsuit filed in opposition to ABC Information in March, Trump claimed that Stephanopoulos’ statements have been “false, intentional, malicious and designed to trigger hurt.”
A judge in July refused to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit in opposition to the community, writing that these definitions have been completely different sufficient. He added that the case would activate “whether or not it’s considerably true to say a jury (or juries) discovered (Trump) responsible for rape by a jury regardless of the jury’s verdict expressly discovering he was not responsible for rape.”
The settlement got here a day after a federal choose dominated that Trump and Stephanopoulos should sit for a deposition someday subsequent week. The president-elect can now keep away from testifying below oath, which might have include potential authorized dangers as he prepares to return to the White Home.
Trump has a history of submitting lawsuits in opposition to the information media. In late October, he filed a lawsuit in opposition to CBS, demanding $10 billion in damages over the community’s “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. His authorized counsel claimed the interview with Harris and the related programming have been “partisan and illegal acts of election and voter interference” meant to “mislead the general public and try and tip the scales” of the presidential election in her favor.
This story has been up to date with extra data.
CNN’s Brian Stelter, Marshall Cohen and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.
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