ABC pays $16M to settle Trump’s defamation suit 5 weeks before he takes office

What happened

On March 10, 2024, George Stephanopoulos said on ABC’s This Week that Donald Trump had been found liable for rape. A New York jury in the E. Jean Carroll case had found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The judge had written that the conduct met a common understanding of rape, though not New York’s narrow statutory definition. Trump sued ABC News and Stephanopoulos for defamation in federal court in Florida.

On December 13, 2024, the day a judge ordered both men to sit for depositions, the parties signed a seven-page settlement. It was filed on December 14. ABC agreed to pay $15 million, labeled a charitable contribution, into an escrow account for a nonprofit being established for Trump’s future presidential library.

ABC also paid $1 million to the law firm of Trump’s lawyer Alejandro Brito and posted an editor’s note expressing regret for the remarks. The network did not go to trial and did not defend the segment. The inauguration was five weeks away.

Who benefited

Trump controls the nonprofit that will build and run his presidential library, which receives the $15 million. The $1 million covers legal fees he would otherwise have paid. He also obtained a public expression of regret from a national network without going to trial.

Who wanted something

ABC’s owned stations hold broadcast licenses from the Federal Communications Commission, whose chair the incoming president appoints. Its parent, Disney, had mergers and other business subject to federal review. The record does not show what, if anything, ABC later asked of the administration.

Who lost out

ABC paid $16 million and published a statement of regret rather than defend the segment at trial. No public money was involved. The money went to a foundation and a law firm, not to a court-ordered judgment.

Why it matters

A company that needed the goodwill of the incoming administration paid $16 million to end a lawsuit brought personally by the president-elect. The payment was structured as a charitable contribution to his library, which he controls. The deal closed five weeks before he took office.

Sources CNNAP via WHYYAP via Claims JournalU.S. Office of Government Ethics (primary)