ABC News, star anchor to pay $15 mn to settle Trump's defamation case

New York (The Uttam Hindu): US President-elect Donald Trump has won a $15 million settlement in a defamation case against ABC News TV and its star anchor George Stephanopoulos, who had accused him of raping a woman.

The settlement was announced Saturday noon, days before lawyers were to question both Trump and Stephanopoulos and it ended the case.

The case hinged on a thin legal distinction between "rape" and "sexual abuse" because Stephanopoulos had said that Trump had raped a woman while a jury in a civil case had only found that he had sexually abused the woman.

It was a rare victory for Trump because US laws make it difficult for public figures to win libel or defamation cases.

Unlike in countries following British legal standards, in the US making a false statement about a public figure is not enough for a conviction.

It has to be proved that it was done with malicious intent against the person defamed or libeled.

Trump has lost cases against The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and other media because of the tough standards.

In this case, ABC settled before a court verdict.

An ABC spokesperson confirmed the settlement saying, "We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing."

There was no immediate reaction from Trump who was at an American football game between the Navy and Army academies when the settlement became public.

ABC and Stephanopoulos also agreed to express regret for the statement he made and post it on the ABC website with the original story.

Stephanopoulos, who was the communications director for former President Bill Clinton and Democratic Party strategist before entering journalism, co-anchors Good Morning America, the country's top morning news programme with 2.8 million viewers.

Trump has repeatedly accused ABC News of bias against him, particularly during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that the network hosted.

He has cited the close friendship between Harris and Dana Walden, the chairperson of Disney, which owns ABC. Walden has made financial contributions to Harris' campaigns.

The cases in which Trump was found to have sexually abused a woman continue to dog him.

The jury in a civil case found that he had sexually abused, but not raped, a journalist E. Jean Carroll at a high-end store and awarded her $5 million in 2023. In another case, the jury found that Trump had emotionally harmed the woman and caused her reputation to suffer by repeating that she had lied and awarded Carrol $83.3 million in damages in January. Trump has posted a bond for $91 million and is appealing the case.