LOS ANGELES.–Settling a defamation for 78-year-old President-elect Donald Trump, the Disney Corporation, parent company of ABC News, decided to pay $1.6 million, something more media organizations fight till the death because of the First Amendment, but, more importantly, setting a dangerous precedent. Trump suit stemmed from 63-year-old ABC News host George Stephanopoulos saying that Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll, when, in fact, ruled that Trump was responsible for “sexual abuse,” a different definition on New York state statutes. Stephanopoulos said Trump was found “liable for rape” May 9, 2023, when the Associated Press reported that Trump was found liable for “sexual abuse.” Stephanopoulos, a veteran ABC News journalist and former Press Secretary to former President Bill Clinton, played fast-and-loose because of egregious political bias against Trump.
ABC was ordered to pay $15 million to a future presidential foundation and museum plus $1 million in Trump’s legal fees because Stephanopoulos let his contempt of Trump get in the way of any objective journalism. Margaret Sullivan’s American Crisis Newsletter said the settlement breaks the cardinal rule of journalism: “Don’t cave to legal intimidation.” But Sullivan would be better putting the onus on journalists who still have a responsibility to control their mouths and get the facts right, in this case saying that Trump was found “liable for sexual abuse.” When you look at E. Jean Carroll’s case, her attorney’s found a sympathetic jury who believed her incredulous story that Trump molested her in the lingerie dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman sometime in the mid-1990s. Jurors obviously sided with E. Jean Carroll even though her story made no sense.
Donald Trump in the 1990s was the talk-of-the-town, a world famous celebrity New York real estate developer know for gracing the New York City skyline with his skyscrapers. Whatever Trump’s situation, he had access to anything he wanted in terms of social and material wealth, not needing to force himself on E. Jean Carroll has she said during the trial. Jurors didn’t like hearing that Trump say of Carroll, “she wasn’t my type,” further infuriating the jury to award Carroll $5 million. Whatever testimony the jury heard at trial, they didn’t hear from former President Trump who let his attorney do the talking. Whether that was a mistake or not is anyone’s guess. Now the journalism industry is up in arms about ABC News paying Trump $16 million to settle the defamation case against Trump. ABC News and Stephanopoulos had to issue personal apologies to Trump.
Today’s state of U.S. journalism has deteriorated to the point that broadcast and print journalists no longer hide their political bias. In the 2024 race, there was not one media outlet, with the exception on Fox News, that backed Trump’s campaign, most worked 24/7 to undermine Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. In reporting the E. Jean Carroll verdict, the AP said in the first sentence that the verdict could “haunt” Trump’s bid for the White House. If that doesn’t reveal the corrupt nature of American journalism, then what does? All legacy media outlets were well-aware that any verdict against Trump could affect his run for the president. E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million award was touted as proof, as 77-year-old Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.) said that Trump lacks “character” for president. After the Carroll verdict, all the other Trump criminal trials hit the headlines.
So, when you look at the E. Jean Carroll case, it was really the first in a series of carefully calculated legal cases against Trump, including NY Atty. Gen. Letitia James suit fining Trump $450 million Feb. 14, 2024 for misrepresenting the size of his Manhattan condo, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, found Trump guilty May 30, 2034 of 34 felonies in the hush money case. Then, Special Counsel Jack Smith had his pending cases alleging Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and harbored classified docs at his Mar-a-Lago residence. When you add to that Fulton County DA Fani Willis racketeering case, Democrats and the media thought Trump was dead in the water for any 2024 run for president. Yet Trump didn’t give up but showed the world how to fight for his rights. At the end the day, voters agreed that Trump was persecuted by politically motivated legal cases against him.
Trump celebrated his ABC news victory ringing the bell at the New York stock exchange Dec. 11 after Time Magazine named him Person of the Year. Liberal journalists are up in arms because of Trump Nov. 5 landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Stephanopoulos and other journalists are furious that voters rejected their disinformation and propaganda pushing for Harris to become president. “The media is tamed down a little bit,” Trump said. “They like use much better now, I think. If they don then we’ll have to take them on again and we don’t want to do that,” saying he would prefer no more lawsuits. All the anti-Trump media can do know is fabricate stories about his Cabinet nominees to undermine his presidency before its gets started Jan. 20, 2025. Whatever message corrupt journalists take from the ABC News settlement, get their facts straight before they speak out.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
