David Folkenflik
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-14-2024 7PM EST
Back in March, Stephanopoulos was pushing his guest, a U.S. representative who was herself raped as a young woman, on why she would support Trump. He incorrectly referred to a court verdict from last year in which a jury found that Trump was liable for sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll and but not rape.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-14-2024 7PM EST
The judge in that case said what transpired as determined by the jury fit the commonly understood definition of rape, but not the narrow one under New York state law. ABC will pay the $15 million to a foundation for Trump that's typically used to fund a presidential library and a million dollars for Trump's legal costs.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-14-2024 7PM EST
Both Trump and Stephanopoulos were to be questioned under oath for Trump's defamation suit in coming days. David Folkenflik, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Good morning, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
So let's go back to March. Donald Trump, former president, surging in the Republican primaries. Stephanopoulos on the Sunday Public Affairs show this week, he was speaking with Nancy Mace. She's a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina, used to be a real critic of Trump, became a supporter of him. She had talked poignantly about how she'd been raped as a teen.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And George Stephanopoulos is saying, well, then why do you support Donald Trump? And he kept saying relentlessly, look, uh, he was found liable in a civil suit of rape. Well, that's not actually quite right. He was found guilty of sexual abuse, and the jury in that civil trial did not find him liable of rape.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
What the judge said in the case, pointedly, however, was that what he was found liable for did fall under the definition of what everybody in America in common conversation might understand to be rape, but that it didn't fit under the precise technical definition of rape under New York state law.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Sure. I spoke to six First Amendment media lawyers over this weekend, and they kind of agreed with my gut instinct on this. They said what George Stephanopoulos did was a screw up. And a number of them said they would have expected ABC and Stephanopoulos to clarify the distinction pretty promptly.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
But they also said this should have been a pretty easy call to defend in court because what Stephanopoulos said was close to what the judge said. But in precise, there's kind of a case law defense of something being substantially true. And as you point out,
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Public figures under a major court case decided by the Supreme Court called New York Times v. Sullivan 60 years ago, they gave great protections to what people say in the press and in public about public officials to allow for sort of a rolling and roiling freedom of speech about politicians that you don't have to be perfect.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
And so you can say things that are critical about public figures and they can't just use the courts against you. A president or a former president or a future president would be somebody at the very top of the pyramid of public figures.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
Well, it remains a mystery why they didn't clarify, but why did they settle? They say they're happy to be past it. We don't know exactly, but this is a major amount of money, particularly for a public figure. It also comes at a time as a number of news organizations and a number of owners and leaders of news organizations appear trying to make peace with Trump.
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
You think of the killed endorsements of Vice President Harris in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, you know, a top executive over ABC News was seen at Mar-a-Lago meeting with a key incoming figure in the new Trump administration. And finally, this is all, of course, at a time when incoming President-elect Donald Trump and the officials around him have suggested a strong
Up First from NPR
Syrian Minorities Fear Retribution, Israel-Hamas Talks, ABC Settles Trump Lawsuit
not only willingness, but intent to use the powers of government against the press, the powers of regulation, desire to go after reporters and publishers over printing government secrets, and now very much the courts as well.