President-elect Donald Trump did not press ABC host George Stephanopoulos as hard as he should have for defamatory claims that the reporter made, the New York Post editorial board wrote on Sunday, saying the DIsney-owned network was "let off easy" in the embarrassing case.
"Make no mistake: President-elect Donald Trump let ABC off easy; it only has to pay $15 million toward his future presidential library, plus $1 million for his lawyers’ fees, to get out of a defamation lawsuit it was sure to lose — and so avoid legal discovery that surely would have finished off whatever reputation its new division still has," the New York Post editorial board wrote on Sunday.
According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution 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." Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump's attorney fees.
Stephanopoulos, a sharp critic of Trump who was a Bill Clinton aide before entering journalism, repeatedly claimed on March 10 that Trump had been "found liable for rape" in a case involving E. Jean Carroll, who filed a civil suit against Trump.
"The judge, Lewis Kaplan, later nattered on about Carroll how hadn’t actually failed to prove rape as defined by dictionary.com, but only as New York law defines it — a clear parting bid to make the decision as useful as possible for anti-Trump electioneering," the New York Post wrote in a piece headlined, "Trump let ABC off easy in settling for just $16 million over George Stephanopoulos’ blatant defamation."
"But that left Stephanopoulos (or whoever writes his scripts) zero factual basis for his multiple, overheated claims about Trump being ‘liable for rape,’" The New York Post continued.
The Post wrote that Trump critics will argue that the settlement between Trump and Stephanopoulos will be an "ominous sign" for the incoming administration and media landscape.
"That’s nonsense: Corporations like ABC and its parent company, Disney, don’t make such payouts unless they think they’re avoiding far worse if the case actually moves ahead," The New York Post wrote.
Reached for comment on Saturday, an ABC News spokesperson said, "We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing."
Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
