Stephanopoulos ‘Apoplectic, Humiliated’

 

George Stephanopoulos ‘apoplectic, humiliated’ over Defamation suit settlement

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos is “apoplectic” and “humiliated” by the network’s decision to pay $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump, The NY Post is reporting.

Stephanopoulos, who claimed Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll during an interview with Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace, was particularly upset about being forced to apologize, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Another source told The Post that “George is defiant.”

The first insider added that the host of “This Week” had recently signed a contract extension with Disney-owned ABC News — though the source did not disclose the terms of the deal.

Stephanopoulos

The former Bill Clinton aide has kept a low profile since the settlement — a $15 million donation to a presidential foundation and museum for Trump and another $1 million for Trump’s attorney fees — was announced on Saturday.

He has deactivated his X account, where he had more than 2.3 million followers.

Some ABC News staffers fumed at management for keeping a tight lid on coverage of the settlement, the first source said. It was “front page news everywhere yet ABC doesn’t report on itself,” the source lamented.

Three sources told The Post that morale is down after a series of layoffs in all departments..

The settlement was announced just a day after a judge ruled that Stephanopoulos and Trump had to sit for depositions in the case. The depositions were scheduled for this week.

“This wasn’t a news division decision, it was a company decision,” one of the sources speculated, adding: “They likely didn’t want to go through discovery, when you search all the documents and all the emails and find everything that’s said, and turn it over to the other side.”