ABC News and George Stephanopoulos must apologize to President-elect Donald Trump and pay $15 million as a charitable contribution towards 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.”
Hahaha. ABC and Stephanopoulos will help pay for Trump’s future library and museum.
Trump filed a defamation suit after Stephanopoulos interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-NC) during This Week on March 10, 2024.
Stephanopoulos told Mace that a judge and two juries found Trump “liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape.” He repeated the claim ten times during the segment.
After the federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a later ruling that just because Carroll failed to prove rape “within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’”
New York has three degrees for sexual abuse and a statute for persistent sexual abuse.
Laura Beth Nielsen of Northwestern University explained the difference:
Well, the distinction in law is about penetration.So what we know that he has been found liable for is touching, grabbing, groping for his own sexual pleasure against her will. And, in a way, it’s a distinction without a difference. Somebody who’s willing to do one over the objection of a victim is probably willing to do the other.But from a legal standpoint, it is a different charge.
The settlement avoids a long trial.
The defendants have to pay the $15 million “within 10 calendars days of the Effective Date of this Agreement to an escrow account to be established by Plaintiff’s counsel.”
The statement must be published within one calendar day of the effective date.
The statement: “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.”
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