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Donald Trump paid USD$15 million by ABC news in defamation settlement

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Saturday, December 14, 2024

George Stephanopoulos
Image: The White House.
Writer E. Jean Carroll accused US president-elect Donald Trump of rape in 2019.
Image: julieannesmo, J JMesserly.

On Saturday, ABC News agreed to pay USD$15 million to the presidential library of US president-elect Donald Trump in a defamation settlement after anchor George Stephanopoulos inaccurately claimed Trump had been found "liable" for the rape of former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll during a March 10 interview on This Week, a program he was the host of.

In the interview, Stephanopoulos pressed US congresswoman Nancy Mace, a sexual assault victim, regarding her continued support for Trump.

Stephanopoulos repeated the assertion that "judges and two separate juries have found [Trump] liable for rape" ten times during the interview, the BBC said.

ABC News made a statement expressing on its website "regret" for statements made by Stephanopoulos.

In the lawsuit that was the subject of the exchange in the interview, Trump was found liable for sexual assaulting Carroll, who in 2019 alleged that he raped her in a luxury department store across the street from Trump Tower in the 1990s. The state of New York distinguishes sexual assault from rape. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll, and he was ordered to pay the victim USD$5 million. A second suit found him liable for further defamation, requiring him to pay her $USD$83.3 million.

Trump denied the claim, and maintained that he never met Carroll. He expressed intentions to appeal both verdicts.

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