ABC settles Trump’s defamation suit for $15M

ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos agreed to settle a defamation suit brought by President-elect Trump by issuing a public apology and providing $15 million to fund Trump’s future presidential library, according to court documents filed Saturday. 

The settlement enables both the anchor and Trump to avoid sitting for court-ordered depositions next week. 

Trump sued the network and the anchor in March after Stephanopoulos repeatedly said during a “This Week” interview that a jury found Trump “liable for rape” in a lawsuit brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. The jury had found Trump liable for sexual abuse under New York law, but not rape.  

Under the settlement agreement, the network will put the $15 million in escrow to ultimately be used toward Trump’s future presidential library and foundation. ABC also agreed to pay $1 million in attorneys’ fees and add an editors’ note to the bottom of the relevant article, court documents show.

“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,” the note reads. 

In return, Trump agreed to drop the lawsuit and waive any legal claims arising from the interview. 

“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.

A Trump spokesperson deferred comment to the written agreement.

The case had been moving closer to trial after ABC’s bid to dismiss it failed. As part of the discovery phase, a judge on Friday ordered both Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for depositions lasting up to four hours next week. 

Trump’s lawyers claimed the anchor’s comments damaged the then-candidate's reputation, seeking an unspecified amount of damages.  

Trump previously attempted to bring a defamation claim against Carroll herself for continuing to describe her story of encountering Trump at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s as rape, despite the jury’s verdict. 

But a judge rejected Trump’s claim, noting that New York’s legal distinction between “rape” and “sexual abuse” was minimal and that Carroll’s description was still substantially true. 

Updated at 4:10 p.m. EST.