President-elect Donald Trump, left, and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP/Stephanie Scarbrough)

- ABC News will pay $15M and issue regret over anchor's inaccurate claim Trump was found liable for rape.
- Trump was found liable for sexual assault and defamation, not rape, under New York law’s narrow definition.
- ABC will also pay $1M in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer as part of the settlement agreement.
Share
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NEW YORK — ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
According to settlement documents made public Saturday, ABC will also post a note on its website expressing regret over the claim in a March 10 segment on Stephanopoulos’ “This Week” program and pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer.
Related Story: Daniel Penny, Acquitted in NYC Subway Chokehold, Will Join Trump’s Suite ...
ABC Said Parties Reached Agreement
In a statement, ABC News said: “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.”
Trump sued Stephanopoulos and ABC for defamation days after the anchor claimed during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that Trump had been “found liable for rape,” which misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two lawsuits against him.
Last year, Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll and was ordered to pay her $5 million. In January, he was found liable on additional defamation claims and ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million. Trump is appealing both verdicts.
Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.
Related Story: Drones, Dogs, Drug Labs: Canada’s Plan to Avoid Trump’s Tariffs Takes Shape
The judge in both cases, Lewis Kaplan, has said that the jury’s conclusion was that Carroll had failed to prove that Trump raped her “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.”
Kaplan noted that the definition of rape was “far narrower” than how rape is defined in common modern parlance, in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes and elsewhere.
The judge said the verdict did not mean that Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed … the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
RELATED TOPICS:
Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say
12 hours ago
Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production
12 hours ago
On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again
13 hours ago
Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women
15 hours ago
Two From Search Group That Uncovered Mexico’s ‘Ranch of Horror’ Killed
15 hours ago

Fresno City Council Finally Passes a Tough Smoke Shop Ordinance

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

Wired Wednesday: What’s the Future of Fresno Unified and the Superintendent Position?

Zakaria Draws Parallels Between Trump’s Tariffs, Failed 1930s Economic Policies
