ABC settles defamation case with Trump over false report
In March, ABC News' leading presenter George Stephanopoulos erroneously reported that Donald Trump had been found guilty of raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The then-presidential candidate swiftly sued the station for defamation. A settlement was reached in this case on Saturday.
According to the settlement announced on Saturday, ABC News issued a statement on its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos' remarks. The station will also pay one million dollars (800,000 pounds) to cover the costs of Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito's, law firm.
ABC will also allocate 15 million dollars (12 million pounds) for the planned Trump Presidential Library as a "charitable contribution".
- We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing - said ABC News spokeswoman, Jeannie Kedas.
Trump was convicted but appealed the verdict
According to the Associated Press, during a live interview on the "This Week" programme with Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Stephanopoulos stated that Trump was "found liable for rape" and "defaming the victim of that rape".
In the first of the court cases, Trump was found guilty of sexual molestation and defamation of Carroll (but not rape) last year. The jury ordered him to pay the victim five million dollars (4 million pounds). In January, during the second trial, the Republican was additionally convicted of defamation and ordered to pay Carroll 83.3 million dollars (66 million pounds). Trump appealed both verdicts.
Carroll, a former columnist, wrote in her 2019 autobiography that Trump raped her in the mid-90s in the luxury Bergdorf Goodman store in New York, after they accidentally met at the entrance. The Republican denied the accusations. He claimed he did not know Carroll and had never met her at that location.
