ABC News host George Stephanopoulos ignored the news about his network’s massive settlement with President-elect Donald Trump on his Sunday show.
Fox News Digital first reported on Saturday that ABC News and Stephanopoulos agreed to a settlement to avoid a costly trial over Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the network and anchor.
News of the settlement, however, failed to appear on ABC’s “This Week.” Instead, Stephanopoulos focused on stories about unidentified drones over New Jersey, ongoing conflicts in Syria and Trump’s cabinet picks.
He also deleted his X account over the weekend.
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Stephanopoulos was the focus of the lawsuit 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.
The “This Week” host was initially defiant against the lawsuit when asked about it in May, adding he would not 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 told late-night host Stephen Colbert.
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.”
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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.
Fox News’ Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
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