Revised Description: NEW YORK — As part of a defamation lawsuit resolution, ABC News has agreed to put $15 million toward the yet-to-be-built presidential library of Donald Trump. The settlement ends a legal feud, sparked by an erroneous statement on-air by George Stephanopoulos, an ABC news presenter, indicating that Trump was held civilly responsible for a sexual assault on author E. Jean Carroll. Public settlement information released over the weekend shows ABC expressing its remorse over the inaccurate assertion on Stephanopoulos’ This Week program on March 10th, and also agreeing to pay $1 million concerning the legal fees of Trump’s counsel.
ABC News expressed satisfaction over ending the lawsuit in accordance with the terms presented in court documents. Trump initiated a complaint against Stephanopoulos and ABC News for defamation after the host’s misrepresentation of the conclusions from Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump during a dialogue with Congresswoman Nancy Mace.
Last year, Trump faced accountability for his sexually inappropriate behavior and defamatory actions toward Carroll, resulting in a $5 million compensation order. Another ruling this year found Trump guilty of further defamation charges, commanding him to give Carroll an additional $83.3 million. Both rulings are currently under challenge by Trump.
Neither decision identified an act of rape under the interpretation of New York law. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over both cases, made clear that Carroll failed to prove her rape allegation against Trump, given the “limited, technical understanding of a specific clause of the New York Penal Law”. Kaplan clarified that the legal interpretation of rape is considerably restricted compared to more comprehensive modern conceptions and its usage in federal and state criminal laws and other jurisdictions. He emphasized that the verdict did not disprove Carroll’s rape allegations against Trump; rather, the jury affirmed that Trump acted in keeping with her claims.