ABC News Boss 'Kissed The Ring' With Trump Team Just Days Before $15M Defamation Settlement Over George Stephanopoulos' Slanderous Rape Comment
ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump over comments George Stephanopoulos made on-air about E. Jean Carroll's civil case.
Dec. 16 2024, Published 4:18 p.m. ET
ABC News bosses have "kissed the ring" of Donald Trump mere days before settling a lawsuit sparked by George Stephanopoulos' slanderous comments.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the network has been slammed by pundits for settling the defamation lawsuit after Disney executives held a meeting with members of Trump's team.
With the settlement, the network resolved the lawsuit filed by Trump, 78, after Stephanopoulos, 63, said the president-elect was found liable of rape during a segment on This Week in March.
Trump filed the defamation lawsuit after Stephanopoulos said the president-elect was found liable of raping E. Jean Carroll.
Despite Stephanopoulos previously defending his remarks – claiming he would not be "cowed out of doing" his job "because of a threat" – ABC News agreed to make a $15million payment to Trump's future presidential foundation.
An anonymous executive reportedly said the agreement was reached because "this problem needed to go away".
The settlement was reached days after Debra OConnell, an executive from ABC News' parent company Disney, met with Trump's incoming chief-of-staff, Susie Wiles, in Palm Beach.
President-elect Donald Trump said the U.S. government know where the drones 'are coming from'.
Online and on-air political comments condemned the network's swift action to make the lawsuit disappear.
On Bluesky, George Conway wrote: "The ABC News settlement makes zero sense from a legal standpoint."
MSNBC's Symone Sanders-Townsend called the settlement "insane" as she slammed the network.
She argued Stephanopoulos' comments appeared to be "factually accurate" in a broad analysis of the case, in which Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York City department store dressing room in 1996.
A Manhattan jury found the president-elect liable of sexually abusing the former columnist and awarded Carroll $5million.
Stephanopoulos stood by his remarks, claiming he would not be 'cowed out of doing' his job 'because of a threat'.
Sanders-Townsend further warned the settlement could lead to a "chilling effect" on journalism by setting a precedent for reporting on the incoming administration.
During The Weekend Sunday, she said: "I would just say, I mean, this feels like it has a real chilling effect. Like, I mean, shout out to the standards department standards is always making sure that we are keeping the bar high and substantive and accurate.
'But what George Stephanopoulos said in that interview, it seems to hold up what the judge said and now his news organization and himself, George Stephanopoulos himself is paying $1 million of his own money to the lawyers and ABC are paying $15 million. It's insane."
Days before the settlement, Disney executive Debra OConnell met with Trump's incoming chief-of-staff Susie Wiles in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Legal and political commentator Harry Litman echoed: "I got to think that the ABC boardroom was involved in this decision somehow. And my big worry is it is somehow caught up in the fact he will be president soon."
He added: "So how the boardroom affected the legal room here, I hope we will learn. But given the timing, he is on a roll and a roll, that is really unsettling in terms of public confidence in the criminal justice system and media confidence, and who is left after the media to tell the truth, that he will come after them, make their lives miserable, and it has been successful so far."
Democrat election lawyer Marc E. Elias accused the network of submitting to Trump, adding: "Knee bent. Ring kissed. Another legacy news outlet chooses obedience."
