ABC Information anchor George Stephanopoulos is “apoplectic” and “humiliated” by the community’s resolution to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit introduced by President-elect Donald Trump, The Put up has realized.
Stephanopoulos, who claimed Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll throughout an interview with Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace, was significantly upset about being pressured to apologize, a supply with data of the scenario stated.
One other supply informed The Put up that “George is defiant.”
A 3rd supply stated Stephanopoulos “is a really guarded particular person. His circle of belief is so small, and loads of them don’t work [at ABC anymore].“
The primary insider added that the host of “This Week” had just lately signed a contract extension with Disney-owned ABC Information — although the supply didn’t disclose the phrases of the deal.
The previous Invoice Clinton aide has stored a low profile because the settlement — a $15 million donation to a presidential basis and museum for Trump and one other $1 million for Trump’s legal professional charges — was introduced on Saturday.
He has deactivated his X account, the place he had greater than 2.3 million followers.
Some ABC Information staffers fumed at administration for protecting a decent lid on protection of the settlement, the primary supply stated.
It was “entrance web page information all over the place but ABC doesn’t report on itself,” the supply lamented.
Three sources informed The Put up that morale is down after a sequence of layoffs in all departments..
The settlement “is one other intestine punch,” one of many individuals stated. “It’s sheer degree embarrassment. Individuals are livid.”
The settlement was introduced only a day after a choose dominated that Stephanopoulos and Trump needed to sit for depositions within the case. The depositions have been scheduled for this week.
“This wasn’t a information division resolution, it was an organization resolution,” one of many sources speculated, including: “They doubtless didn’t need to undergo discovery, whenever you search all of the paperwork and all of the emails and discover every little thing that’s stated, and switch it over to the opposite facet.”
A supply with data of the scenario informed The Put up that the $16 million payout is coming from the community’s insurance coverage.
ABC Information declined to remark.
Stephanopoulos didn’t return a number of requests for remark.
Trump filed the defamation lawsuit in opposition to ABC Information and Stephanopoulos after the newscaster incorrectly famous that the previous president “has been discovered responsible for rape by a jury.”
The community and Stephanopoulos launched a joint assertion on Saturday,
“ABC Information and George Stephanopoulos remorse statements relating to President Donald J. Trump made throughout an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024,” the assertion stated.
Final yr, a Manhattan jury listening to the civil case introduced by Carroll, who has alleged she was raped by Trump a long time in the past, discovered the Republican responsible for sexual battery and defamation — however not rape.
In an indication that Disney is searching for a reset with the president-elect, Debra OConnell, who oversees ABC Information, paid a go to to Mar-a-Lago to fulfill with Trump, in response to Puck Information.
Trade insiders speculated that Disney CEO Bob Iger wished to place the authorized matter to relaxation earlier than Trump took workplace as a result of he was fearful it could have an effect on different departments within the firm’s portfolio which might be topic to authorities regulation.
Iger can also be stated to be conscious of the reputational injury that Disney absorbed from its years-long, protracted combat with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the “Don’t Say Homosexual” laws that the Mouse Home publicly lobbied in opposition to — to no avail.
The Disney boss might also want to alter the notion that ABC Information has an axe to grind with the incoming president — significantly given the truth that one among his prime deputies, Disney Leisure co-chair Dana Walden, has maintained a decades-long friendship with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Trump camp was irked by ABC Information moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis for his or her frequent fact-checking of the president-elect through the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
Supply hyperlink
