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Mother Jones: Why the ABC News Settlement With Trump Is Complicated
Mother Jones - Why the ABC News Settlement With Trump Is Complicated
The defamation lawsuit centered on comments anchor George Stephanopoulos made about the outcome of a civil lawsuit against Trump brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Julianne McShane
2 hours ago
ABC News will pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit that president-elect Donald Trump brought against the network, centered on incorrect comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made about the civil lawsuit against Trump brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
The details of the settlement are concerning for anyone who cares about press freedom in the next Trump administration. And, in particular, it shows again how New York state’s definition of “rape”—that has since been changed—has allowed Trump to wiggle out of criticism for sexual assault allegations.
The lawsuit focused on a March 10 interview that Stephanopoulos conducted on the network’s Sunday morning show, “This Week,” with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). In that interview, Stephanopoulos confronted Mace—who has said she’s a rape survivor—about her endorsement of Trump, falsely noting that “judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape, and for defaming the victim of that rape.”
Stephanopoulos was referring to the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who alleged that Trump raped her in 1996 in the dressing room of a New York City department store; as my colleague Russ Choma reported, while the jury found that Carroll’s attorneys did not prove the rape allegation, they did agree that Trump forcibly sexually abused and defamed her, and ruled that Trump had to pay Carroll $5 million.
Still, it is even more complicated than that. As my former colleague Katie Herchenroeder reported, the judge in the Carroll case went to great lengths to clarify that while Trump was not found liable for “rape” under New York’s strict definition—vaginal penetration by a penis—his alleged actions of forcible penetration with his fingers meet the definition of what many people broadly understand as “rape.”
/snip
The defamation lawsuit centered on comments anchor George Stephanopoulos made about the outcome of a civil lawsuit against Trump brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Julianne McShane
2 hours ago
ABC News will pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit that president-elect Donald Trump brought against the network, centered on incorrect comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made about the civil lawsuit against Trump brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
The details of the settlement are concerning for anyone who cares about press freedom in the next Trump administration. And, in particular, it shows again how New York state’s definition of “rape”—that has since been changed—has allowed Trump to wiggle out of criticism for sexual assault allegations.
The lawsuit focused on a March 10 interview that Stephanopoulos conducted on the network’s Sunday morning show, “This Week,” with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). In that interview, Stephanopoulos confronted Mace—who has said she’s a rape survivor—about her endorsement of Trump, falsely noting that “judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape, and for defaming the victim of that rape.”
Stephanopoulos was referring to the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who alleged that Trump raped her in 1996 in the dressing room of a New York City department store; as my colleague Russ Choma reported, while the jury found that Carroll’s attorneys did not prove the rape allegation, they did agree that Trump forcibly sexually abused and defamed her, and ruled that Trump had to pay Carroll $5 million.
Still, it is even more complicated than that. As my former colleague Katie Herchenroeder reported, the judge in the Carroll case went to great lengths to clarify that while Trump was not found liable for “rape” under New York’s strict definition—vaginal penetration by a penis—his alleged actions of forcible penetration with his fingers meet the definition of what many people broadly understand as “rape.”
/snip
6 replies
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