ABC News is looking to keep both Donald Trump and George Stephanopoulos happy after paying Trump a $16 million settlement over their star anchor’s comments about the president-elect.
The ex-Bill Clinton aide has reportedly signed a multi-year contract extension with the network, according to the LA Times.
Stephanopoulos was reportedly paid $20 million a year in his current contract for hosting Good Morning America and Sunday news staple This Week, as well as producing documentaries.
It comes after the 63-year-old ABC stalwart’s on-air words have cost the Disney-owned network $16 million.
Stephanopoulos, who became a target of Trump’s ire over the summer and was referred to as ‘Slopadopoulos,’ was the impetus behind a lawsuit after he said that the president-elect was ‘liable for rape’ against writer E. Jean Carroll in an interview with Congresswoman Nancy Mace in March.
It stipulates that the network will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution towards Trump’s presidential library. They will also pay his legal fees as part of the settlement, which have totaled $1 million.
ABC also has to post a note on its website expressing regret over the claim in a March 10 segment on “This Week” made by Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos is reportedly ‘apoplectic’ and ‘humiliated’ about the decision by his longtime employers to pay the settlement money.
However, legal experts have claimed that ignoring multiple network warnings not to say ‘rape’ on-air likely hurt their ability to fight back against Trump.
Multiple anonymous sources now tell the New York Post that Stephanopoulos was warned not to say ‘rape’ multiple times before going to air.
The segment involved him interviewing Mace, with Stephanopoulos pressing her on why she endorsed Trump after he was found liable of sexual abuse.
Stephanopoulos said: ‘I’m asking you a question, about why you endorse someone who’s been found liable for rape?’
Mace, who has seen her stock rise since Trump’s election, accused the anchor of trying to shame her by bringing up the case.
The congresswoman went on: ‘As a rape victim, who’s been shamed for years now because of her rape. You’re trying to shame me again.’
Mace was raped when she was 16 years old and says it is what drives her to be an advocate for women’s issues.
”I have endorsed a man that I believe is best for our country. It’s not Joe Biden. You looked at the dueling rallies yesterday, in Georgia.
And here you are trying to shame a rape victim. I find it disgusting.’
‘You keep saying I’m shaming you. How is a question about a presidential candidate—’ Stephanopoulos said. ‘You’re asking a rape victim,’ Mace cut in.
The settlement, first reported by Fox News, was publicly filed on Saturday and revealed that the parties had come to an agreement in the suit.
A statement from the network said: ‘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.’
Trump had sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation soon after the segment aired.
His lawyers accused Stephanopoulos of making the statements with ‘malice’ and a disregard for the truth.
A New York jury in May 2023 ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
He was then ordered to pay another $83.3 million for defamation after he publicly denied sexually abusing Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996.
Jurors had deliberated for less than three hours following a two-week civil trial in which the former president testified for just three minutes.
Stephanopoulos was initially defiant of the lawsuit, telling Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be ‘cowed out of doing my job because of a threat’.
He added: ‘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.’
Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages alleging the network practiced ‘deceptive conduct’ when they interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris in October.
Lawyers for the president claimed numerous violations by the broadcaster including lying in a thoughtful and malevolent way, according to a lawsuit.
They wrote the complaint is because of ‘CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public.’
Trump and his team also allege that CBS News was trying to run cover for Democrats by making Kamala Harris’ performance look better than it was.
