Incoming President Donald Trump has reached a settlement with ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos over a defamation lawsuit. Trump accused them of defamation, and ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle the lawsuit.
Additionally, the American television network will pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer and will post an online apology. The settlement avoids a costly court case, according to American media reports.
The defamation accusation stemmed from Stephanopoulos’s statements in his weekly show, This Week, in which he claimed Trump was liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump was actually found liable for sexual abuse, not rape, by a New York jury last year, as state law distinguishes between the two.
Earlier this year, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll an additional $83 million in a defamation case she filed against him. He has repeatedly denied the accusations.
Source: NOS