Disney’s decision to settle President-elect Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against ABC News was supposed to relieve the company of a major headache. Instead, it has set off an internal backlash. according to The Wall Street Journal.
Many rank and file journalists and producers at ABC News are frustrated by the company’s decision to resolve the suit, rather than fight in court Trump’s claims against the network and its anchor George Stephanopoulos. ABC agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum, and $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer, according to a court filing made public Saturday.
Disney concluded that it was facing a tough court battle in Florida that could have ultimately proven costly not only to the company but to press freedom writ large, if they lost, the people said.
Several ABC News staffers said it was a concerning precedent for a media company, and worry that the settlement sends a message that Disney is giving priority to its corporate interests and relationship with the White House over its own journalists. Media lawyers have also raised questions about the deal.
Trump filed the suit in March, days after Stephanopoulos said multiple times in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) on ABC’s Sunday morning news show “This Week” that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. A federal jury determined he was liable for sexual abuse, but not rape.
Stephanopoulos later went on CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and reasserted his claim that “rape” was an appropriate word to use, based on comments made by the judge in the case. “I’m not going to be cowed out of doing my job because of the threat,” Stephanopoulos said of Trump’s lawsuit.
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