NEW YORK — ABC News has reached a settlement of $15 million to contribute towards Donald Trump’s presidential library as part of resolving a defamation lawsuit concerning inaccurate comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos. The controversy stemmed from Stephanopoulos incorrectly stating during a segment on his “This Week” program that the former president had been found civilly liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll.
The network disclosed the settlement on Saturday, alongside an editor’s note acknowledging regret for Stephanopoulos’ remarks from March 10. Additionally, ABC News will pay $1 million in legal costs to Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito.
According to the terms of the settlement, the contribution to Trump’s library is labeled a “charitable contribution,” designated for a non-profit organization connected to the library that is yet to be constructed. “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” stated Jeannie Kedas, a spokesperson for ABC News.
Trump’s representative did not provide any comments regarding the settlement. The agreement was formalized on Friday, coinciding with a federal judge’s decision in Florida to require separate depositions from Trump and Stephanopoulos the following week, which are now unnecessary due to the settlement.
The signed agreement includes Trump’s unmistakable signature and an electronic signature with the initials GRS representing Stephanopoulos. Debra O’Connell, the president of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, also electronically signed the document.
ABC News is mandated to transfer the $15 million to Trump’s library to an escrow account managed by Brito’s firm within ten days, along with the legal fees owed. Despite the significant amount of ABC’s contribution, it is anticipated to cover only a small portion of the total expenses involved in constructing the library. For context, the estimated cost of former President Barack Obama’s library in Chicago was around $830 million as of 2021.
Shortly after the segment aired, Trump initiated a lawsuit against ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami, following the repeated inaccuracies regarding the verdicts in Carroll’s civil lawsuits against him. During the “This Week” segment where he interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Stephanopoulos incorrectly stated that Trump had been “found liable for rape” and for “defaming the victim of that rape.”
It is important to note that neither of the verdicts in question indicated a finding of rape as defined by New York law. In the first trial, Trump was deemed liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, resulting in a jury ordering him to pay $5 million. A subsequent trial in January in Manhattan led to Trump being found liable for further defamation, with the jury ordering him to pay an additional $83.3 million.
Trump is currently appealing both jury decisions. Carroll, who previously worked as an advice columnist, publicly alleged in a memoir released in 2019 that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, a high-end department store in Manhattan that is located near Trump Tower after an encounter at the entrance.
Trump rejected her accusations, maintaining he did not know Carroll and never encountered her at the store. In response to Trump’s derogatory comments, calling Carroll a “nut job” who fabricated “a fraudulent and false story” to market her memoir, she filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages and a retraction of what she characterized as defamatory statements made by Trump.
In April 2023, while testifying, Carroll expressed, “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.” She recounted in her testimony an incident where Trump allegedly forced himself on her, detailing a struggle before she was able to escape.
In the judgment regarding the $5 million award from the first trial, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan clarified that the jury’s unanimous decision predominantly favored Carroll, although they concluded she did not prove that Trump raped her under the specific legal definition outlined in New York’s Penal Law.
Judge Kaplan asserted that the legal definition of rape is “far narrower” than public understanding as typically reflected in various sources. Under New York law, a rape conviction necessitates vaginal penetration by a penis, categorizing non-consensual penetrative acts through other means as “sexual abuse.” The judge emphasized that the ruling did not negate the jury’s findings that Trump had indeed raped Carroll in the broader sense of the term.
