George Stephanopoulos and ABC Apologize to Trump, Forced to Pay $15 Million to Settle Defamation Lawsuit

FIRST ON FOX– ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit that will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have reached an agreement and avoided an expensive lawsuit. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for plaintiff as established by presidents of the United States in the past.” In addition, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s legal fees.

Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of “regret” as an editorial note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online articleabout comments earlier this year that prompted Trump to file a libel suit. The memo reads: “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.”

ABC NEWS’ GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS HAS INCORRECTLY FOUND TRUMP ‘RESPONSIBLE FOR RAPE’ 10 TIMES, LEGAL GURUS SAY

ABC News said the network was “pleased” to have settled the case.

“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms of the trial,” an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he claimed Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil suit during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., last March.

After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a rape victim, Stephanopoulos asked her, “How do you compare your support for Donald Trump to the testimony we just saw?”

“You have supported Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him responsible for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.

Stephanopoulos repeated this claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite a jury actually finding Trump liable for “sexual misconduct,” which has a separate definition under New York law.

After the federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a later ruling that just because Carroll could not prove rape “within the meaning of the New York Penal Code does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her, as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape’.”

FETTERMAN DREAMS LEGAL CASES AGAINST TRUMP, HUNTER BITES IN FIRST TRUTH SOCIAL ATTITUDE: ‘CASES WERE BOTH BULLS—‘

President-elect Trump and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos settled out of court this week after Trump sued the anchor and his network for defamation. (Getty Images)

Initially, Stephanopoulos was defiant about Trump’s lawsuit, telling CBS host Stephen Colbert that he would not be “put out of doing my job because of a threat.”

“Trump sued me for using the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s actually what happened. We filed a motion to dismiss,” Stephanopoulos said.

The settlement came after U.S. Magistrate Lisette M. Reid on Friday ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for depositions next week ahead of the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment, to avoid a lawsuit.

In his lawsuit against Stephanopoulos and ABC, Trump was represented by Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh. The settlement with ABC was filed in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court, where both parties signed and accepted the terms.

NEWT GINGRICH: BIDEN MAY BE PRESIDENT, BUT TRUMP IS ALREADY LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD

The settlement comes after a series of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal counsel Boris Epshteyn.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan recently granted special counsel Jack Smith’s recent request to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also threw out his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges entirely in July and ruled , that he was improperly appointed as a special advocate.

In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case, removing the president-elect’s sentencing date from the schedule.

Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, saying the network engaged in “deceptive conduct” aimed at election interference in its October interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Fox News’ Brian Flood, David Rutz and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP