ABC Guts Press Freedom By Essentially Bribing Trump With $15 Million

ABC agreed to pay Trump a $15 million donation to his presidential library fund as part of a defamation lawsuit settlement that will allow them to maintain White House access.

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ABC Pays Off Trump

On March 10, 2024, during an episode of ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos said to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). “Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury. Donald Trump has been found liable for defaming the victim of that rape by a jury. It's been affirmed by a judge.”

Trump technically wasn’t found liable for rape. He was found liable for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll.

Judge Kaplan wrote while dismissing Trump’s motion for a new trial in July of 2024, “And since the jury’s answer to Question 1 demonstrates it was unconvinced that there was penile penetration, the only remaining conclusion is that it found that Mr. Trump forcibly penetrated her vagina with his fingers – in other words, that he “raped” her in the sense of that term broader than the New York Penal Law definition.”

The only reason Trump wasn’t found liable for rape was that the New York statute was too narrow.

Instead of saying Trump was found liable for rape, Stephanopoulos should have referred to the judge’s July ruling that raped her in a broader non-statutory sense.

Trump sued for defamation and threatened to ban ABC from the White House and try to get their broadcast license pulled.

In the face of Trump’s threats, ABC did the worst thing possible and settled the case.

The AP reported, “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.”

Given Trump’s history with non-profits and the lack of a presidential library plan, the ABC contribution looks more like a payoff to a possible slush fund than a charitable donation.

It looks like ABC bought access to the White House with $15 million and helped Trump delegitimize the sexual abuse judgment against him.

What is stunning is that ABC didn’t call Trump’s bluff, as every organization has done when he tried to sue for defamation. Donald Trump doesn’t want to be deposed, so all ABC had to do was agree to see him in court and begin the process of evidence gathering through depositions and evidentiary hearings.