Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly recently revealed key information regarding the settled defamation lawsuit President-elect Donald Trump brought against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos. Reports indicate that the network came to an agreement with Trump to pay $15 million after previous false comments made by Stephanopoulos about the former and incoming president.
As background, Stephanopolous incorrectly claimed in a past interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) that Trump had been found legally liable for rape in the E. Jean Carroll case. However, the actual ruling from the case determined that Trump was legally liable for sexually assaulting and defaming Carroll. According to a statement from ABC News, “We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing.”
On a recent segment, Kelly said, “The producer spoke with Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, and here’s what he said. Our question was, why did ABC decide to settle the long and short of it is the nature of the claims that were brought and the fact that they were verifiable from a standpoint as factually untrue. From George Stephanopoulos, Trump’s legal team had separate video clips of George Stephanopoulos on ABC that showed Stephanopoulos knew that Trump had not been found liable for rape.”
Calling out Stephanopoulos for seemingly knowing that Trump had not been found liable for rape, she continued, “This was not a situation where there was simply a misunderstanding. George Stephanopoulos interviewed E. Jean Carroll after the trial on his show, and we had video of his questions to Carroll, and when he asked her how she felt after Stephanopoulos said Trump was not liable for rape, juxtapose that with his questioning of Mace.”
Substantiating this point, Kelly played a clip of Stephanopoulos clearly stating that Trump had “not been found liable for rape.” The producer further asked Trump’s lawyer, “Was there something in discovery that scared ABC into settling.” The answer they received stated, “The possibility of something coming out in discovery may have had led to the settlement.”
Kelly continued her commentary on the matter, reading, “Trump’s legal team had scheduled to take the deposition of ABC and ABC rep, and George Stephanopoulos, the lawyer suspects ABC did not want it to happen. Quote, It wasn’t something ABC learned that caused them to settle, but rather something Trump’s team may learn. He said. End, quote, our question, had they already exchanged documents?”
The conservative commentator concluded, “To my point of normally, you exchange texts and papers before you sit for the deposition. He said that there had been minimal document exchange in discovery. Trump team was waiting on ABC in Stephanopoulos to respond to discovery demands. He said at the time of the settlement, ABC had only quote, produced one piece of paper, end quote, very interesting, and not provided any other documentation. He believes fear of what Trump could learn about ABC and Stephanopoulos and document exchange may have played a role in the settlement.”
Watch Kelly below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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