President-Elect Donald Trump has settled his defamation lawsuit with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos. 

Fox News reports that Trump managed to extract a public apology from Stephanopoulos as part of the agreement.

Trump also managed to get a decent chunk of change from ABC and Stephanopoulos - namely $15 million.

There is little doubt, however, that the public apology was the bigger prize.

Background

The defamation lawsuit, from Trump, stemmed from comments that Stephanopoulos made earlier this year.

Fox reports:

Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he asserted that Trump was found "liable for rape" in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last March. After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, "How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?"  "You've endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape," Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.

During the interview, Stephanopoulos repeatedly claimed that Trump was found liable for rape, which is simply not the case.

Trump, instead, was found liable for "sexual abuse," which, under New York law, is quite a bit different from rape.

Trump proceeded to bring a lawsuit against the ABC anchor, who, up until recently, remained defiant, asserting, "Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen."

The latest

Now, Stephanopoulos has been forced to eat his own words.

His and ABC's statement of regret reads:

ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.

In addition to this, ABC is paying Trump $15 million.

Per The Hill:

Under the settlement agreement, the network will put the $15 million in escrow to ultimately be used toward Trump’s future presidential library and foundation. ABC also agreed to pay $1 million in attorney’s fees and add an editors’ note to the bottom of the relevant article, court documents show.

There is no doubt that this is a win for Trump, but many argue that Trump, here, went far too easy on Stephanopoulos. There may be some truth to this, but chances are that Trump wanted to make sure that this did not cause a distraction during his upcoming presidency.