ABC News settles defamation suit with Trump for $15 million

WINNING

BAHHAHAAAAA


ABC News settles defamation suit with Trump for $15 million

https://www.yahoo.com/news/abc-news-...211159841.html


Paula Reid and Katelyn Polantz, CNN
Sat, December 14, 2024 at 3:56 PM CST


ABC News will pay $15 million to a “presidential foundation and museum” in a settlement reached with President-elect Donald Trump in his defamation suit against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos.


The settlement, which was filed publicly Saturday, reveals the network will also pay $1 million in Trump’s attorneys’ fees and will issue an apology.


ABC News will issue the following statement as an editor’s note on the online article at the center of the suit: “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.”


“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” an ABC News spokesperson wrote in a statement.


Trump filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court earlier this year, arguing that Stephanopoulos and ABC News defamed him when the anchor said 10 times during a contentious on-air interview with South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in March that a jury found Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll.


Carroll alleged that Trump raped her in a department store in the mid-1990s and that he defamed her when he denied her claim. Trump has denied all wrongdoing toward Carroll.


In 2023, a jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll, sufficient to hold him liable for battery, though it did not find that Carroll proved he raped her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million for battery and defamation. In January, Carroll was awarded an additional $83.3 million in damages for defamatory statements made by Trump that disparaged her and denied her rape allegations.


A judge concluded in August 2023, when dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll, that the claim Trump raped Carroll was “substantially true.” The judge wrote that Trump “raped” her in the broader sense of that word, as people generally understand it, though not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law.


In the lawsuit filed against ABC News in March, Trump claimed that Stephanopoulos’ statements were “false, intentional, malicious and designed to cause harm.”


A judge in July refused to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit against the network, writing that these definitions were different enough. He added that the case would turn on “whether it is substantially true to say a jury (or juries) found (Trump) liable for rape by a jury despite the jury’s verdict expressly finding he was not liable for rape.”


The settlement came a day after a federal judge ruled that Trump and Stephanopoulos must sit for a deposition sometime next week. The president-elect can now avoid testifying under oath, which could have come with potential legal risks as he prepares to return to the White House.


Trump has a history of filing lawsuits against the news media. In late October, he filed a lawsuit against CBS, demanding $10 billion in damages over the network’s “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. His legal counsel claimed the interview with Harris and the associated programming were “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” intended to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales” of the presidential election in her favor.


This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Brian Stelter, Marshall Cohen and Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

The word is that money will go to his presidential library. Nothing like rubbing salt in the wound.

The next 12 years will be just more WINNING

3 things in article

Suit was filed in Florida
Trumpf ordered to pay 5 million to carroll
Trumpf ordered to pay 83.3 million more to Carroll

This part here is truth

A judge concluded in August 2023, when dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll, that the claim Trump raped Carroll was “substantially true.” The judge wrote that Trump “raped” her in the broader sense of that word, as people generally understand it, though not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law.

Snick

3 things in article

Suit was filed in Florida
Trumpf ordered to pay 5 million to carroll
Trumpf ordered to pay 83.3 million more to Carroll

This part here is truth

A judge concluded in August 2023, when dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll, that the claim Trump raped Carroll was “substantially true.” The judge wrote that Trump “raped” her in the broader sense of that word, as people generally understand it, though not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law. Originally Posted by winn dixie

this is the truth. can't spin it dude.


A judge in July refused to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit against the network, writing that these definitions were different enough. He added that the case would turn on “whether it is substantially true to say a jury (or juries) found (Trump) liable for rape by a jury despite the jury’s verdict expressly finding he was not liable for rape.”

bahahahhaaaaaa

3 things in article

Suit was filed in Florida
Trumpf ordered to pay 5 million to carroll
Trumpf ordered to pay 83.3 million more to Carroll

This part here is truth

A judge concluded in August 2023, when dismissing Trump’s countersuit against Carroll, that the claim Trump raped Carroll was “substantially true.” The judge wrote that Trump “raped” her in the broader sense of that word, as people generally understand it, though not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law. Originally Posted by winn dixie

... Which is why Trump has appealed this case.

Let's see how it plays out ... Now. ...

#### Salty

The word is that money will go to his presidential library. Nothing like rubbing salt in the wound.

The next 12 years will be just more WINNING Originally Posted by Budman

... Too right, mate! ... Trump's grand at rubbing SALT
into the wound... ... And the sorry likes of
ABC News is so richly deserving of it.

Surely hope they use the word "rape" again.
Might even be the olde crones from "the View" who get
hit with a $$$$ lawsuit next. ...

#### Salty

and the leftist media is aghast at ABC for "bending the knee" to Lord Trump


BAHHAHHAAAAA


https://www.yahoo.com/news/abc-news-...002703547.html


ABC News’ Trump Settlement ‘An Awful Precedent’ in ‘Bending the Knee,’ Media Pundits Say

So Mr. Trump pays out $ 88.3 million, gets $ 15 million, and that is considered.....WINNING ??


The last paragraph of the article is great too. Trump sues for $ 10 billion because 60 minutes did an interview with Kamala.


Mr.Trump and his lawsuits. How many now over the last 4 years.......

So Mr. Trump pays out $ 88.3 million, gets $ 15 million, and that is considered.....WINNING ??


The last paragraph of the article is great too. Trump sues for $ 10 billion because 60 minutes did an interview with Kamala.


Mr.Trump and his lawsuits. How many now over the last 4 years....... Originally Posted by VitaMan

hasn't paid one dime to that lying slut.

never will.


bahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa a

I hope he does the the witches of the View next....

The hilarity!

Why sue them when you get get the FBI to lock them all up?

That’s his plan.

Retribution.

Did trump win omg

hasn't paid one dime to that lying slut.

never will.


bahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa a Originally Posted by The_Waco_Kid

Thanks for your opinion.


The jury award would have to be reduced by 83% on appeal for this comparison just to break even. And the MAGAs call this "WINNING".

I’m not sure that this settlement is a good idea. I don’t like the precedent of the government or Trump’s entourage suing the media when they don’t like what they have to say.


Trump and His Picks Threaten More Lawsuits Over Critical Coverage

The small flurry of threatened defamation suits is the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage.

The legal threats have arrived in various forms. One aired on CNN. Another came over the phone. More arrived in letters or emails.
All of them appeared aimed at intimidating news outlets and others who have criticized or questioned President-elect Donald J. Trump and his nominees to run the Pentagon and F.B.I.

The small flurry of threatened defamation lawsuits is the latest sign that the incoming Trump administration appears poised to do what it can to crack down on unfavorable media coverage. Before and after the election, Mr. Trump and his allies have discussed subpoenaing news organizations, prosecuting journalists and their sources, revoking networks’ broadcast licenses and eliminating funding for public radio and television.

Actual or threatened libel lawsuits are another weapon at their disposal — and they are being deployed even before Mr. Trump moves back into the White House.

It is notoriously difficult for public figures like Mr. Trump to win defamation lawsuits. Under longstanding Supreme Court precedent — which Mr. Trump and some of his allies want to see weakened or overturned — plaintiffs must prove that a publisher knew a defamatory statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its accuracy.

But that high bar has not stopped a wide range of politicians, business leaders and others from threatening or filing such suits — a strategy that often seems tailored to cause news outlets and individuals to rein in aggressive coverage of the public figures.

The strategy can pay other dividends as well.

On Saturday, ABC News said it had agreed to give $15 million to Mr. Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation suit that Mr. Trump filed against the network and one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. Mr. Trump sued in March after Mr. Stephanopoulos inaccurately said the former president had been found “liable for rape” in a civil trial in New York, though the judge in the case later noted that the state has a narrow legal definition of rape. In fact, Mr. Trump had been found liable for sexual abuse.

The settlement followed months of attacks by Mr. Trump and his allies on ABC News, with the once and future president going so far as to say that the network should lose its federal broadcast license.

The deal set off criticism of ABC News by those who perceived the network as needlessly bowing down to Mr. Trump. And it led some legal and media experts to wonder whether the outcome would embolden Mr. Trump and others to intensify their assault on the media, at a moment when many news organizations are struggling with declining public trust and deteriorating finances.

Even before the settlement was reached, Elizabeth McNamara, a prominent media lawyer, said she expected that the trend “is only going to increase,” given the political environment.

Read more here: https://archive.ph/98fvP