ABC News has agreed to pay President-elect Donald Trump $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit stemming from comments made by George Stephanopoulos on his morning show.
The settlement, revealed in court filings on Saturday, came after the ABC host incorrectly claimed Trump was “found liable for rape” during a contentious interview with Republican Representative Nancy Mace.
It has since been reported that one source said Stephanopoulos is “apoplectic” and “humiliated” by his network’s decision to settle for the on-air blunder.
Another told The New York Post that “George is defiant,” while a third claimed the anchor “is a very guarded person. His circle of trust is so small, and a lot of them don’t work [at ABC anymore].”
SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly didn’t mince words in her criticism of the ABC News team’s handling of the situation.
“You’re idiots! Stephanopoulos is an idiot, and so are his producers,” Kelly declared on her show Monday.
Drawing from her extensive experience at Fox News and NBC, Kelly emphasized the critical role producers play in ensuring accurate reporting and protecting their anchors from making significant errors.
“In all my years at Fox, never mind my short stint at NBC, the producers have a couple of main jobs. One is to arm the anchor with facts.”
“Fail. OK, fail there. And two is to protect the anchor,” Kelly explained, highlighting how her own producers actively correct any misstatements during broadcasts.
The settlement marks another chapter in Stephanopoulos’s controversial career.
The Free Beacon reported that the former Clinton administration staffer faced criticism in 2015 when it was revealed he had made undisclosed donations totaling approximately $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation while conducting interviews about the organization’s dealings with foreign donors.
Kelly particularly noted the irony of Stephanopoulos’s aggressive questioning of Mace, who herself is a rape survivor, about supporting Trump.
“He’s been there a long time. It doesn’t make him any more respectable. He’s a partisan hack. He started off as a partisan hack, and he remains one,” Kelly fired off, calling Stephanopoulos “too ballless to own his partisan nature.”
“[He] wants us to believe that he’s straight and narrow now, notwithstanding all those years helping Bill Clinton,” Kelly continued.
“The irony of him going after a rape supporter in that way… after his years running the war room, tearing down Bill Clinton’s assault accusers. I mean, it’s just rich.”
The controversy erupted during a March episode of “This Week,” when Stephanopoulos engaged in a heated exchange with Mace, pressing her about Trump’s legal troubles.
While Trump had been found liable for defamation and battery in E. Jean Carroll’s case, he was not found liable for rape – a crucial distinction that Stephanopoulos failed to make.
