NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million toward 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
As made public Saturday, ABC News posted an expressing regret over Stephanopoulos' statements during a March 10 segment on his 鈥淭his Week鈥� program. The network will also pay $1 million in legal fees to the law firm of Trump鈥檚 attorney, Alejandro Brito.
The settlement agreement describes ABC's presidential library payment as a 鈥渃haritable contribution," with the money earmarked for a non-profit organization that is being established in connection with the yet-to-be built library.
鈥淲e are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,鈥� ABC News spokesperson Jeannie Kedas said.
A Trump spokesperson declined comment.
The settlement agreement was signed Friday, the same day a Florida federal judge ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for separate depositions in the case next week. The settlement means that sworn testimony is no longer required.
The agreement bore Trump鈥檚 bold, distinct signature and an electronic signature with the initials GRS in a space for Stephanopoulos鈥� 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鈥檚 law firm within 10 days, according to the agreement. The network must also pay Brito鈥檚 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 鈥淕ood Morning America鈥� anchor and 鈥淭his Week鈥� host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll鈥檚 two civil lawsuits against Trump.
During a live 鈥淭his Week鈥� interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed that Trump had been 鈥渇ound liable for rape鈥� and 鈥渄efaming the victim of that rape.鈥�
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 abusing 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.
Trump is appealing both verdicts.
Carroll, a former advice columnist, went public in a 2019 memoir with her allegation that Trump raped her in the mid-1990s at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury Manhattan department store across the street from Trump Tower, after they crossed paths at an entrance.
Trump , saying he didn't know Carroll and never ran into her at the store.
After Trump lashed out, calling Carroll a 鈥渘ut job鈥� who invented 鈥渁 fraudulent and false story鈥� to sell her memoir, she sued him for unspecified monetary damages and sought a retraction of what she said were Trump鈥檚 defamatory denials.
Testifying in April 2023, Carroll told jurors: 鈥淚鈥檓 here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn鈥檛 happen. He lied and shattered my reputation, and I鈥檓 here to try and get my life back."
After she'd agreed to help Trump shop for a gift for a woman, Carroll testified that he pushed her against a dressing room wall, stamped his mouth onto hers, yanked down her tights and shoved his hand and then his penis inside her while she struggled against him.
She said she finally kneed him off her and fled.
In upholding the $5 million judgment in the first trial, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote that the unanimous verdict was almost entirely in favor of Carroll, except that the jury concluded she had failed to prove that Trump raped her 鈥渨ithin the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.鈥�
Kaplan, who presided over both of Carroll's lawsuits against Trump, said the definition of rape in the state code was 鈥渇ar narrower鈥� than how rape is defined in common modern parlance, in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes and elsewhere.
Under New York law, a rape finding requires vaginal penetration by a penis. Forcible penetration without consent of the vagina or other bodily orifices by fingers or anything else is labeled 鈥渟exual abuse.鈥�
The judge said the verdict did not mean that Carroll 鈥渇ailed to prove that Mr. Trump 鈥榬aped鈥� her as many people commonly understand the word 鈥榬ape.鈥� Indeed ... the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.鈥�
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press
