NEW YORK, Dec 15: ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump's presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit over anchor George Stephanopoulos' inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
As part of the settlement made public Saturday, ABC News posted an editor's note to its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos' statements during a March 10 segment on his ''This Week'' program. The network will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump's attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC's presidential library payment as a ''charitable contribution," with the money earmarked for a non-profit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be built library.
''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.
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A Trump spokesperson declined comment.
Trump, Stephanopoulos and ABC executives signed the settlement agreement on Friday.
The document bore Trump's bold, distinct signature and an electronic signature with the initials GRS in a space for Stephanopoulos' name. Debra OConnell, the president of ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, also e-signed the agreement.
ABC News must transfer the $15 million for Trump's library to an escrow account that's being managed by Brito's law firm within 10 days, according to the agreement. The network must also pay Brito's legal fees within 10 days.
While sizeable, ABC's contribution to Trump's presidential library will likely cover just a fraction of the cost. Former President Barack Obama's library in Chicago, for example, was estimated to cost $830 million as of 2021.
Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment, in which the longtime ''Good Morning America'' anchor and ''This Week'' host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll's two civil lawsuits against Trump.
During a live ''This Week'' interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed that Trump had been ''found liable for rape'' and ''defaming the victim of that rape.''
Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.
In the first of the lawsuits to go to trial, Trump was found liable last year of sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll. A jury ordered him to pay her $5 million.
In January, at a second trial in federal court in Manhattan, Trump was found liable on additional defamation claims and ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million.
