EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Nemesis came hard for liberal Trump-hater George “Slapadopoulos”, as Trump likes to call him, and ABC. They agreed to pay a cool $15 mil to settle the lawsuit against President Trump. George inaccurately said 10 times (!!) that Trump was found liable for rape!! I have explained that “malice” is the main criterion for being found guilty in a defamation lawsuit. If you focus on your facts as a journalist, if you make logical assessments of the people you discuss, there is no way to be found guilty… But George was overcome by his hateful feelings…
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‘Fox News Live’ co-host Arthel Neville reports on the breaking story.
FIRST ON FOX– ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.
The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.” Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump’s attorney fees.
Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of “regret” as an editor’s note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, “ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”
ABC News said the network was “pleased” to have concluded the case.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he asserted that Trump was found “liable for rape” in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last March.
After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”
“You’ve endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape,” Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for “sexual abuse,” which has a distinct definition under New York law.
After the federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a later ruling that just because Carroll failed to prove rape “within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’”
President-elect Trump and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos settled outside of court this week following Trump suing the anchor and his network for defamation. (Getty Images)
Initially, Stephanopoulos was defiant in the face of Trump’s lawsuit, telling CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be “cowed out of doing my job because of a threat.”
“Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen. We filed a motion to dismiss,” Stephanopoulos said.
The settlement came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos on Friday to sit for depositions next week ahead of the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment, in order to avoid a trial.
In his lawsuit against Stephanopoulos and ABC, Trump was represented by Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh. The settlement with ABC was filed in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court where both parties signed and agreed to the terms.
The settlement comes after a string of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan recently granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent request to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also tossed his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges altogether in July, ruling that he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case and removed the sentencing date for the president-elect from the schedule.
Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, stating the network practiced “deceptive conduct” for the purpose of election interference in its interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Fox News’ Brian Flood, David Rutz and Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
$15 Million is a drop in the bucket for the allegations, lies, innuendos and damages big media created for our nation by not delivering the truth and becoming a leftist, Democrat propaganda machine. May Trumps lawsuits all prevail in a real court of law with judges presiding without malice, bias and agendas to further a cause, and most importantly, may the major networks cease and desist operations as we currently know them. Time for real change to take place. #FORTHEPEOPLE #BYTHEPEOPLE #WETHEPEOPLE
Geoege Stephanopoulos has, and always will be a drip! (I dunno…if I ever cost my employer 15 million dollars, I’d get fired!)
Hey Nick
How can you fail to see the irony in your celebration of a news outlet paying a fine for exercising their 1st amendment right. Just the other day, you wrote an article, praising America for the protection she afforded you, in your fight against Katsimatide’s lawsuit? Have you no sense of fairness? Are you so blinded to the hypocrisy of your article as to not see the dissonance? Have you no sense of honor or decency? Wake up man. You’re making a fool of yourself
you fail to read and understand my comments on the issue. The difference here is one word: MALICE. George Slapadopoulous amply displayed malice in repeating TEN TIMES that Trump had been found guilty for rape which was not true.
Malice is the ONE exception the law provides regarding defamation.
The Archdiocese could not prove malice against me and the judge refused all measures against me since the first appearance in court.
I explained it in my editors note yesterday but unfortunately you did not pay attention.
It is clear that the first amendment is there to protect journalism.
It is also clear that defamation laws are fully constitutional as well, and they apply to journalists too, without violating the 1st amendment.
They used to teach us in law classes that the only way to protect yourself against a defamation lawsuit is to always be able to prove beyond doubt that the claims you make are true.
Whether it was poor word choice, whether it was intentional propaganda or malice doesn’t make a difference in the end, if something “untrue” was propagated by a journalist to a 3d party (public audience)….it would fit the legal definition of “defamation”. Didn’t Foxnews have to pay a lot of money in recent history (a lot more than 15 million) due to a defamation lawsuit, resulting in some journalists having to leave as well? That’s how things work in the US court system, and perhaps Stephanopoulos and others could have “learned from Foxnews’ lesson”, but it didn’t happen…But let us not kid ourselves either, 15 million is really “nothing” compared to the aforementioned lawsuit…just a small “slap on the wrist”, or a “couple minutes of Superbowl advertisements”…they could have settled out of court for much less, but it was more of a “battle of egos” here, which is “sky-high” on both sides of this contest.
Now for a key retrospective moment in journalism….Was the “weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” story legally considered defamation under US law after it was admitted that it was not a true statement? In theory, the defamation laws claim that it’s not only the source of defamation that is liable (Colin Powell in this case), but also everyone who spreads the false claims (aka the media)…therefore, all of the “big” media outlets could have been rendered entirely bankrupt by the US court system in a defamation lawsuit case for that “story” back in the day…of course, there was no functioning Iraqi government left to initiate such a lawsuit, so the media “got away with it” in this case, emboldening themselves for future journalistic infractions as well…
At some point, the media should really advocate that the media return to “real journalism” vs being a “propaganda mouthpiece” for any political party, a return which would involve “leaving emotions and personal bias at the door”, and focusing on impartial balance as a truthful, protected “public service”…However, we haven’t seen that type of journalism in many decades…
The quote that has been circulating the last few years – “journalism is dead” – may in fact be true at this point in history… A return to the other famous quote “believe half of what they media show you and nothing of what they tell you” may be a more prudent course for the public going forward…
GS has always perplexed me. Having a Fr, uncle and grand father who were priests and a sister who is a nun, yet he embraces far left positions.
Stephanopoulos made known his utter frustration and displeasure at ABC for apologizing and settling with Trump. Other ABC news employees also are up in arms about this issue. They know that worse is yet to come, with Trump and his followers eager to shut down anyone who doesn’t praise the great leader to his liking. Disney, the owner of ABC is the real culprit behind this apology. To them, corporate profits come before such trivialities as standing up for the 1st amendment.
Disney /ABC were selling woke garbage for years. Now it’s payback time. Well worth it. They tried to morally destroy millions of young Americans…
I agree. They had “gay days” at Disney, before gay pride parades were a thing. They would do anything for money. That’s what corporations do. They weren’t looking to destroy anyone. Its business as usual. Of course, as a consumer, your option is not to patronize them. If they lose enough revenue, they’ll change their ways.
However, your title, that George apologized and conceded to the fine is incorrect. He did not. ABC did. Hopefully you can correct that.
Many others have similar titles… if your employer concedes, you concede. It meant that they did not have serious defense against the lawsuit – and we all know that the best defense is to have told the truth. George did NOT.
Stephanopoulos is a jerk. I realize this is harsh but allow me to explain.
There are two reasons for this assessment: first, he was told by his bosses to NOT bring up the non-existent rape charge. Second, the only reason he is where he is today is because he carried water for Bill Clinton, a man who has several credible rape accusations leveled against him.
Exactly right, George… He is the one person in America that should stay silent on rape….