ABC News has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with US President-elect Donald Trump for $15 million after its prominent anchor mistakenly claimed he was found “liable for rape.”
During an interview on March 10, anchor George Stephanopoulos incorrectly repeated the claim while questioning a congresswoman about her support for Trump.
Last year, a civil jury found Trump liable for “sexual abuse,” a term with a specific legal meaning under New York state law.
As part of the settlement announced on Saturday, ABC will issue a statement expressing regret for Stephanopoulos’s erroneous statements.
The agreement specifies that ABC News will donate $15 million to a “Presidential foundation and museum” that Trump plans to establish, following a tradition among former US presidents.
Additionally, the network has committed to paying $1 million toward Trump’s legal expenses.
ABC News will also add an editor’s note to its March 10, 2024, online article, clarifying the error made during the broadcast.
The note will state: “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 representative stated that the network is “pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms stated in the court filing.”
In a 2023 ruling, a New York civil court found that Trump had sexually abused E Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and had defamed her.
Judge Lewis Kaplan explained that while the jury did not find Trump guilty of rape under a specific section of New York Penal Law, the term ‘rape’ used in the accusation was much narrower than its general definition.
In another case overseen by Judge Kaplan, Trump was ordered to pay $83.3 million to Carroll for additional defamatory remarks.
In the disputed March 10 broadcast, Stephanopoulos questioned South Carolina Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace’s endorsement of Trump, erroneously stating that Trump had been legally found responsible for rape by judges and juries in two separate cases.
Stephanopoulos repeated this incorrect statement ten times during the program.
Before the settlement, a federal judge had mandated that Trump and Stephanopoulos provide sworn testimony at depositions scheduled for the following week.
Trump has pursued legal action against CBS, the US partner of the BBC, accusing them of deceptive practices in an interview with Kamala Harris.
In 2023, a judge dismissed Trump’s defamation case against CNN, in which he alleged the network had compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Trump’s lawsuits against the New York Times and the Washington Post have also been dismissed.
