ABC News and George Stephanopoulos have agreed to apologize to Trump and pay millions to settle a defamation lawsuit.
ABC News and its anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with President-elect Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit, agreeing to pay a $15 million charitable contribution, $1 million to cover Trump’s attorney fees, and issue an apology.
A joint
notice, filed on Dec. 14, indicates that the parties have both entered into a written settlement agreement, resolving the legal dispute that began when Trump sued ABC News and Stephanopoulos in the Southern District of Florida, alleging defamation after Stephanopoulos claimed on air that Trump was “found liable for rape” by a federal jury.
The settlement
agreement, filed on Dec. 14 alongside the joint notice, indicates that the settlement was motivated by the desire to “avoid the further expense, inconvenience and distraction of litigation.”
As part of the agreement, Stephanopoulos and ABC News will publish a statement of regret as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, addressing comments made earlier this year that led Trump to file the lawsuit.
“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,” the statement reads.
The defendants will also pay $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum to be established by Trump, along with $1 million to the president-elect’s counsel.
After the payments have been made, Trump’s attorneys will file a stipulation of dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they will not be able to refile the lawsuit at a later date.
The case stems from Trump’s allegations that Stephanopoulos defamed him when stating during an interview with Mace that a jury found Trump liable for rape. The ABC interview followed two civil lawsuits in New York filed by author E. Jean Carroll, who in 2019 accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. While the jury rejected her claim of rape, it
held Trump liable for sexual abuse. Trump has consistently denied the allegations.
About a week after the March 10 interview, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against Stephanopoulos in the Southern District of Florida. His March 18
complaint highlighted that the jury’s verdict form stated Carroll had not proven by a preponderance of the evidence that Trump raped her.
In response, ABC moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the statements made during the interview were substantially true and protected under the fair report privilege—a legal doctrine shielding journalists from libel claims when reporting fair and accurate accounts of official proceedings or documents.
ABC’s filing cited a July 2023 opinion by Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan, who noted that New York law defines rape more narrowly than the term is commonly understood in everyday conversation.
A judge
rejected ABC’s motion to dismiss in July. Judge Cecilia Altonaga said that “a reasonable viewer—especially one who was aware that Plaintiff had been charged with rape under New York Penal Law—could have been misled by Stephanopoulos’s statements, which did not include the jury’s original findings and only fleetingly referenced the interpretation Judge Kaplan later offered.”
Later, a Florida judge
ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to appear for depositions in December as part of the lawsuit, which the settlement has rendered moot.
Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
