NEW: George Stephanopoulos Deletes X Account Ahead Of Humiliating Settlement With Trump
Former Clinton White House official turned ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos has deleted his X account after the network agreed to settle Trump’s defamation lawsuit against them, which was brought after Stephanopoulos made false statements about the E. Jean Carroll civil case during an interview with U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) earlier this year.
Stephanopoulos and Mace were discussing the highly controversial civil sexual assault case brought against Trump in New York City, which required New York lawmakers to pass a law to expand the statute of limitations for alleged sexual assault crimes.The Adult Survivors Act allowed alleged victims to file civil suits against their alleged attackers within a certain window, even if the state’s statute of limitations on the claim had expired.
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The act allowed alleged victims to file claims within a one-year window that expired in November 2023. It is best known for providing the basis for E. Jean Carroll — a woman who once described rape as “sexy” — to bring a claim against Trump without any evidence in support. Carroll could not provide an exact date for when the alleged assault took place inside a busy New York City department store, had no corroborating witnesses, told a story that matched an episode of Law and Order and once posted a hypothetical about having sex with Trump for money.
Despite the dubious nature of the case, a jury awarded Carroll with $83.3 million in damages after finding him liable for “battery.” The bulk of the penalty was awarded after a New York jury found that Trump “defamed” Carroll by defending himself against the accusation.
Stephanopoulos falsely presented the facts of the case on more than 10 occasions in his contentious interview with Rep. Mace, falsely claiming that the jury concluded Trump had “raped” Carroll.
Trump soon filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and Stephanopoulos, arguing that the network defamed him. The lawsuit, which was filed in Florida federal court, got the go ahead to move forward in July after a judge refused the network’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, noting that ABC’s claims suffered from the civil ruling. He added that the case would hinge on “whether it is substantially true to say a jury (or juries) found (Trump) liable for rape by a jury despite the jury’s verdict expressly finding he was not liable for rape.”
As the case was set to move to the discovery period — during which Stephanopoulos would have been forced to sit for a lengthy deposition and provide access to personal emails — the network opted to settle the case out of court.
According to the settlement, which was filed publicly on Saturday, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a “presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for the Plaintiff.”
The network has also been ordered to pay an additional $1 million to cover the president-elect’s legal fees and will issue a formal apology.
Just hours after the settlement was announced, X users noticed that Stephanopoulos had deleted his X account.
NEW: Disgraced ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos deactivates his X account after the network was forced to settle a defamation lawsuit against them by Trump.
Stephanopoulos had falsely said Trump was “found liable for r*pe” of E. Jean Carroll. pic.twitter.com/ZM5NoOvjMZ
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 15, 2024