ABC News agrees to pay US$ 15 Mn to settle Trump defamation suit

ABC News has agreed to pay US$15 million to settle a defamation suit filed by President-elect Donald Trump over an inaccurate claim by the United States-based network’s anchor.

The lawsuit stemmed from on-air comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump had been “found liable for raping” writer E. Jean Carroll.

The network and the anchor also agreed to offer public apologies for the comments during a live This Week interview with Representative Nancy Mace, according to documents filed on Saturday.

The terms of the settlement require ABC News to make a $15m donation to a fund dedicated to “a Presidential foundation and museum” for Trump. The broadcaster will pay an additional $1m in lawyer fees, the documents said.

Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment, in which the longtime Good Morning America anchor and This Week host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump.

Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse – a different transgression from rape under New York law – in a 2023 case filed by the writer. (Al Jazeera)

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