US network, star anchor to pay Donald Trump $25 million in defamation case

A US news network will give Donald Trump more than $25 million and a grovelling apology over comments made about his sexual assault case.

One of America’s biggest news networks and its star anchor have agreed to pay Donald Trump more than $25 million to settle a defamation lawsuit over incorrect comments about the President-elect being “found liable for rape”.

ABC News has agreed to pay a $US15 million ($23.6 million) donation to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for (Mr Trump), as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past”, the network said.

It will also pay $US1 million ($1.57 million) to cover Mr Trump’s legal fees, according to the settlement.

Donald Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos in March after Stephanopoulos repeatedly said in an interview a jury had found Mr Trump ‘liable for rape’, which is not correct. Picture: Allison Robbert/AFP

Mr Trump slapped ABC and Stephanopoulos with a lawsuit in Miami federal court after the network star incorrectly said multiple times Mr Trump was “found liable for rape” during a This Week interview with Republican representative Nancy Mace from South Carolina.

ABC News and star anchor George Stephanopoulos also would issue statements expressing their “regret” to an online article version of Stephanopoulos’ March interview, the settlement noted.

“ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Representative Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024,” the apology would read, according to the settlement agreement.

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. Picture: Supplied

ABC News will pay $US15 million to Mr Trump. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, just days before the two sides were set to sit for depositions in the case.

In May 2023, a Manhattan jury ordered Mr Trump to pay $US5 million ($7.9 million) to the former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after finding him liable for sexually abusing her at a department store in 1996 and later defaming her in his statements where he denied her allegations.

Mr Trump had sought unspecified damages.

The settlement came just a day after Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid ordered Mr Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for hours-long depositions just days before Christmas.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as US network, star anchor to pay Donald Trump $25 million in defamation case