Broadcaster and anchor Stephanopoulos committed to releasing a statement regretting comments about the US president-elect
The news channel agreed to pay US$15 million (R$90.6 million) to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump (Republican Party) after the station’s main anchor, George Stephanopoulos, made inaccurate statements about him during an interview in March. At the time, the presenter was interviewing Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace and stated that Trump had been found guilty of raping the writer E. Jean Carroll.
The funds will go towards Trump’s future presidential foundation. The agreement was signed on Friday (Dec 13, 2024). Here is it (PDF – 2 MB, in English).
According to the agreement, the broadcaster and the presenter committed to publishing a statement regretting the anchor’s comments about the US president-elect.
Stephanopoulos is a journalist and worked in the Democratic Party’s press office. He was a communications advisor for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and later became White House communications director.
A ABC News also on its website regretting the statements of Stephanopoulos during “This Week” on March 10. The channel will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito.
The broadcaster must transfer the US$15 million to an account being managed by Brito’s law firm within 10 days, according to the agreement. Within the same period, you must pay the legal fees.
Understand the case
In November 2022, Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, filed a civil lawsuit against Trump for rape. The case had already been reported by the journalist in her book “What Do We Need Men For?” (“Why do we need men?”, in free translation), published in 2019.
According to Carroll, the Republican had sexually assaulted her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan between the end of 1995 and the beginning of 1996.
Thus, the former president of the United States was on May 9, 2023 for sexual abuse. However, the jury in the case concluded that the Republican did not rape the journalist.
