What did George Stephanopoulos say about Donald Trump that led to ABC’s defamation lawsuit?

The First Amendment suffered a heavy blow in mid-December 2024 when ABC News agreed to a hefty settlement with Donald Trump.

The incoming president is notoriously litigious, but he rarely wins in suits levied against the media. The United States has Constitutional amendments for a reason, and the First Amendment grants broad rights to freedom of speech and, importantly, to the press.

Despite this fact, and those long-held precedents, Trump managed to back ABC into a corner over comments made by one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. As a result, ABC was forced to shell out $15 million to settle the defamation lawsuit Trump brought about. 

It all centered around a minor misspeak on the part of Stephanopoulos, who’s worked as an anchor for the network for upwards of 20 years. He’s also worked in politics in his time, working alongside former president Bill Clinton and serving as White House communications director through 2003. In the years since, he’s delivered political news to broad praise, even earning a whopping 17 Emmy Award nominations for his work.

All of which makes it incredibly surprising that he suffered a $15 million slip-up, and all over semantics. It was the difference of a single word that ultimately cost the network millions, and many people see the settlement as courtroom robbery. 

What did George Stephanopoulos say to defame Trump?

Trump alleges defamation, libel, and “fake news” nearly every time he opens his mouth, so it’s reasonable that few people take him at his word anymore. As such, people were shocked to learn that ABC News actually settled its defamation suit, given that Trump is rarely truthful when he hurls accusations — particularly where the news is concerned.

The actual issue is one of a single word and the clear gaps in our legal system. ABC and Stephanopoulos ultimately had to settle because the anchor used the term “rape” to describe Trump’s sexual abuse of author E. Jean Carroll, a term that was technically inaccurate based on the legal proceedings. 

Many people would consider the terms “sexual abuse” and “rape” to be interchangeable — and it seems Stephanopoulos is among them — but Trump demonstrated his skills in manipulating the legal system with his December victory. His careful machinations, paired with the technically incorrect language used by Stephanopoulos, ultimately won him the case, and delivered a blow to news outlets — and the First Amendment as a whole — in the process.

Trump was found liable in 2023, following a lengthy legal dispute, for sexually abusing Carroll in 1996. Carroll won a second case against Trump in early 2024 after he continued to defame her in the wake of the verdict. She was ultimately awarded $5 million in the first suit, and an additional $83.3 million following her second victory. 

Judge Kaplan, who presided over the case, ultimately claimed that Trump did, in fact, rape Carroll as the term is understood “in common modern parlance”, according to the Washington Post, but unfortunately not “in the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.”

As such, Trump has managed to shed the label of “rapist,” and he’s determined to keep it that way. He’s made it clear that he’s more than happy to target anyone who identifies him as such, and with his most recent victory, it’s clear that the courts won’t stop him.