WASHINGTON — ABC will pay $15 million as part of a legal settlement with President-elect Donald Trump, closing out a dispute that centered on an interview in which Trump alleged anchor George Stephanopoulos defamed him.
The money will be transferred to “a Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for” Trump, according to the settlement terms, which were released on Saturday.
The defendants, identified by the settlement as ABC, ABC News and Stephanopoulos, will also pay $1 million to Trump’s counsel and add a note to an online article about the interview declaring that they “regret statements” about Trump, according to the settlement.
“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” said an ABC News spokesperson in an email when reached for comment.
When reached for comment, Trump communications director Steven Cheung referred NBC News to the filing.
Trump’s lawyers had filed the lawsuit days after Stephanopoulos interviewed Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on the network, arguing that certain statements made by the anchor were “false and defamatory.”
In the initial complaint, Trump’s lawyers alleged that Stephanopoulos “knowingly or recklessly made multiple false and disparaging statements regarding Plaintiff during ABC broadcasts.”
Mace, who has publicly discussed being raped as a teenager, was asked during the March interview with Stephanopoulos about Trump’s treatment of women and the E. Jean Carroll case.
Stephanopoulos said during the interview that Trump “has been found liable for rape by a jury.” Trump, however, was found liable in a civil case for sexually abusing Carroll, not liable for her alleged rape. The nine-member jury in that case checked the box marked “no” when asked whether Carroll had proven “by a preponderance of the evidence” that “Mr. Trump raped Ms. Carroll.”
Trump has consistently denied Carroll’s claims.
On Friday ahead of the settlement, a judge ordered that Trump and Stephanopoulos be available for depositions next week regarding the case.
