Stephen Colbert calls ABC ‘stupid’ over settlement with Trump

Late-night host Stephen Colbert said ABC News’ settlement with President-elect Donald Trump was “stupid” Wednesday night after criticizing the president-elect’s decision to sue former Iowa pollster Ann Selzer.

“Why is this stupid thing stupidly happening? My guess, because of the stupid, stupid thing ABC did. Look, this weekend ABC News agreed to pay $15 million and issued an apology to settle a defamation lawsuit,” Colbert said.

ABC News agreed to pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a Trump presidential fund as well as issue an apology to the president-elect.

“If the president thinks he can bully the media into never saying anything bad about him, well, what else is going to happen?” Colbert said, changing the subject.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert called out ABC News on Wednesday for their settlement with Donald Trump. (Screenshot/CBS)

IOWA POLLSTER ANN SELZER SUGGESTS HER DATA COULD HAVE GALVANIZED REPUBLICAN VOTERS TO PROVE IT WRONG

Shortly after settling with ABC News, Trump also sued Iowa pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over the Iowa poll showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in a historically red state.

“So now it’s meddling just to get a prediction wrong? Well, in that case, Punxatawney Phil, your better lawyer, buttercup, if you ever want to see your shadow again,” Colbert joked about the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed Monday night in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions. It says it is seeking “accountability for brazen election interference by the ‘Des Moines Register (DMR) and Selzer’ in favor of now-defeated former Democratic candidate Kamala Harris through the use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Voting completed by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on November 2, 2024.”

Trump ended up beating Harris in Iowa by 13 percentage points. Selzer’s poll was hyped by the media prior to the election, as her poll predictions in previous elections have been historically accurate.

President-elect Donald Trump is suing Iowa pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register over the Iowa poll that found Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in a historically red state. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Selzer hit back at the criticism of her and the vote during a recent interview, but admitted she still didn’t know where she went wrong.

“I’m not here to bring any news. If you were hoping I’d landed on exactly why things went wrong, I haven’t. It kind of wakes me up in the middle of the night and I think, well, maybe I should Check this out that would be very strange if my analysis didn’t have to update because we don’t know I wish I did .

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Selzer continued, “I’m mystified as to what motivation anyone thinks I had and would act on in such a public opinion poll. I don’t understand it. And I take the allegations very seriously. They say this was election interference, which is a crime. So the idea that I deliberately set up to deliver this answer when I’ve never done it before, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it, that’s not my ethics.”