The American news channel ABC News has reached a settlement with the incoming president Donald Trump for 15 million dollars (about 14.3 million euros). The amount will be donated to Trump’s presidential library. ABC News, which is owned by Walt Disney, will also pay the incoming president an additional $1 million for his legal costs. Various American media report this, including: ABC News itself.
Donald Trump had sued both ABC News and ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos for defamation. The complaint concerned an interview by Stephanopoulos with Nancy Mace, a Trump party colleague. During the March interview, the news anchor repeatedly claimed that Tump “had been found liable for rape.” A jury in New York judged last year that Trump had sexually assaulted, but not raped, columnist E. Jean Carroll. Both ABC News and George Stephanopoulos shared that they “regretted” the claims.
This settlement is an unusual victory for Trump. He has often sued news organizations for libel and slander, but often lost these cases. RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah, said in return for The New York Times that ABC News’ decision to settle the case may demonstrate a change in attitude. “Compared to American mainstream media a decade ago, today’s press is far less financially robust, far more politically threatened and exponentially less certain that a jury will uphold press freedom rather than embrace a smear campaign,” Jones said.
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