Why ABC News Is Being Forced to Pay Trump $15 Million

Donald Trump’s 2024 wins have not stopped. The latest victory comes against ABC News, which must pay the president-elect millions over their reckless reports about the E. Jean Caroll civil trial.

In March, ABC Host and former Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos repeated the false claim that Trump had been found liable for rape. He added that Trump’s remarks about Carroll were defaming to a victim of said rape. That’s not what the jury found in that case. Stephanopoulos was sparring with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) when he landed the network into legal trouble. The network also had to pay for Trump’s legal costs, and they had to offer an apology (via Fox News):

JUST IN: ABC News forced to pay $15 million to Trump to settle defamation lawsuit, George Stephanopoulos forced to issue public apology.

The development stems from a March incident where Stephanopoulos claimed Trump was found “liable for r*pe.”

Now, ABC News has to pay $15… pic.twitter.com/jsRuetccuv
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 14, 2024

ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.
The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past." Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump's attorney fees.
Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of "regret" as an editor's note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, "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."
ABC News said the network was "pleased" to have concluded the case.
[…]
After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, "How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?"
"You've endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape," Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for "sexual abuse," which has a distinct definition under New York law.