After Donald Trump launched a lawsuit against ABC News earlier this year, the network news organization has settled the case out of court.
The case stemmed from comments made on This Week with George Stephanopoulos in March. The Sunday political affairs anchor stated that Trump had been found civilly liable for rape in a case brought forth by writer E. Jean Carroll. The team of lawyers for Trump continually argued that no such findings took place and that Stephanopoulos had defamed the then former President.
The judge in the Carroll case stated that the judgment didn’t mean that she “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed … the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
On Sunday, the network announced that it had reached a settlement with the Trump team in the case.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas said.
The settlement includes a $15 million payment to Donald Trump, in addition to $1 million to cover the legal fees paid to his attorneys. The figure paid out will be transferred to a fund for Trump’s library that is managed by Alejandro Brito, the lead lawyer for the President-elect within the next 10 days.
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