ABC will pay $15 million (£11.8m) to Donald Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after a star anchor claimed that he had been found “liable for rape”.
George Stephanopolous, the host of “This Week” and a former Democratic operative, claimed on-air earlier this year that Mr Trump had also defamed “the victim of that rape”, magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
However, Mr Trump had been found liable of sexual assault and launched defamation proceedings against the broadcaster just days after the broadcast.
ABC has now agreed to pay $15 million to the Trump presidential foundation and a museum which Mr Trump intends to establish, and has published an apology on its website.
In a live broadcast in March, Mr Stephanopolous, Bill Clinton’s former director of communications, inaccurately claimed that the president-elect had been “found liable for rape” and had defamed “the victim of that rape”.
After playing a clip of Nancy Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman, discussing being raped as a teenager, he asked her: “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
However, neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.
In the first of two lawsuits brought by Ms Carroll, Mr Trump was found liable last year of sexually assaulting the columnist in 1996, and later defaming her. He was ordered to pay her $5 million (£3.9m).
He was subsequently found liable on additional defamation claims in January and was ordered to pay Ms Carroll $83.3 million (£66m).
Mr Trump is appealing both verdicts.
An article on ABC News’ website about the interview now has an editor’s note that reads: “ABC News and George Stephanopolous regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by Goerge Stephanopolous with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”
It comes a day after both men were ordered to appear in depositions for the case next week.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News spokeswoman Jeannie Kedas said.
A Trump spokesman declined to comment when approached by the Associated Press.