BREAKING: Reason why ABC NEWS agrees to pay $15 Million Dollars to Donald Trump

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In a defamation lawsuit he brought, US President-elect Donald Trump reached a settlement with ABC News and its chief anchor, George Stephanopoulos.

The arrangement, which was made to avoid an expensive trial, will see the news network pay the president-elect $15 million, according to the settlement that was made public on Saturday and covered by FOX News.

The settlement states that ABC News would pay $15 million 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.”

In addition, the new network will pay $1 million for Trump’s legal fees, and both defendants will include an editor’s note at the bottom of an online article published on March 10, 2024, expressing “regret” over remarks made earlier this year that led Trump to sue for defamation.

“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,” the statement reads.

Why is ABC News issuing an apology?

Trump filed a defamation action after Stephanopoulos, the ABC News host, claimed in a heated interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in March that Trump was judged “liable for rape” in a legal case.

Stephanopoulos questioned Mace, after airing a video of her talking about being raped, “How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?”

Stephanopoulos made reference to Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll’s court triumph, saying, “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 continually cited his altercation with Mace, even after a jury found Trump guilty for “sexual abuse,” which had a different definition under New York law.

After a federal jury found Trump guilty of sexual abuse but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a subsequent ruling that Carroll had not proven rape “within the meaning of the New York Penal Law, but that does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape,'” according to Fox News.

At first, Stephanopoulos assured CBS late-night presenter Stephen Colbert that a threat would not “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 said.

How the parties decided to reach an agreement

Prior to the defendants’ deadline of December 24 to submit a motion for summary judgement in order to avoid a trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid on Friday ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to appear for depositions the next week.

This served as the basis for the settlement in the case in which Donald Trump was represented by Florida lawyers Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh.

Both parties signed and accepted the terms of the settlement with ABC, which was submitted to the Federal Court in the Southern District of Florida.

Following a series of court wins for Trump and his legal team, which were orchestrated by top legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, the settlement was reached.

In addition, Trump is suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, claiming that the network engaged in “deceptive conduct” to sway the election during its October interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

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