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Written by Ben Meiselas
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ABC is trash. Shame on them. Let’s not mince words after what they just did moments ago in settling a civil lawsuit with Donald Trump for $15 million and issuing a written apology to Donald Trump. In announcing this settlement to Trump, ABC has declared to us all that it is compromised. It is no longer legitimate. It works only for Donald Trump now and billionaires. It takes its orders from Donald Trump now. It obeys its master, Donald Trump. I’m sure it did before. They are putting an exclamation point on that now and giving us all the middle finger.
To give you more context about what just occurred, ABC and George Stephanopoulos announced they have settled a defamation lawsuit filed against them by Trump. They issued a written apology and are “donating” $15 million to a future Trump presidential library. I put the word donate in quotes because it’s probably a way for ABC/Disney to take a tax deduction or write-off by structuring the settlement this way.
Trump previously sued ABC and Stephanopoulos for defamation because, on his weekend TV show, Stephanopoulos described what Trump did to E. Jean Carroll as “rape” and not “sexual assault.” E. Jean Carroll prevailed in her New York federal civil lawsuits against Donald Trump for sexual assault and defamation. Trump had to post a bond close to $100 million after losing and is appealing the unanimous jury verdicts.
Trump’s defamation lawsuit against ABC and Stephanopoulos claimed Trump was injured because Stephanopoulos described the jury verdict against Trump as a rape instead of a sexual assault. Under the technical definitions of New York law, using a finger to forcibly penetrate a woman’s vagina without consent is classified as a sexual assault but not rape. Trump argued that Stephanopoulos injured Trump by not making this technical distinction about New York law.
To be clear, this is how the federal judge in the New York civil case filed by Carroll against Trump, Judge Lewis Kaplan, described the verdict by the jury in those cases:
“Instead, the proof convincingly established, and the jury implicitly found, that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and long-lasting emotional and psychological harm. Mr. Trump’s argument therefore ignores the bulk of the evidence at trial, misinterprets the jury’s verdict, and mistakenly focuses on the New York Penal Law definition of ‘rape’ to the exclusion of the meaning of that word as it often is used in everyday life and of the evidence of what actually occurred between Ms. Carroll and Mr. Trump.”
In another order, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled:
“As the Court explained in its recent decision denying Mr. Trump’s motion for a new trial on damages and other relief in Carroll II, based on all of the evidence at trial and the jury’s verdict as a whole, the jury’s finding that Mr. Trump ‘sexually abused’ Ms. Carroll implicitly determined that he forcibly penetrated her digitally—in other words, that Mr. Trump in fact did ‘rape’ Ms. Carroll as that term commonly is used and understood in contexts outside of the New York Penal Law.”
In my opinion, Trump’s entire lawsuit against ABC for defamation was nothing but an attempt to bully and intimidate them and other journalists. In my opinion, Trump saying he was injured because Stephanopoulos should have called it “a forcible digital penetration of the genitals” is utterly absurd and disgusting. The fact that ABC just settled this case and gave Trump $15 million and a public apology shocks the conscience.
The timing of this settlement was related to an order issued by the judge in Trump’s defamation case on Friday.
The judge ordered both Trump and Stephanopoulos to sit for four-hour depositions under oath next week.
Donald Trump was a cornered rat by this order, and ABC bailed him out.
Trump would have had to sit in front of a video camera next week and answer questions about his sexual assault, his past behavior toward women and girls, statements he has made in the past about grabbing women by their genitals without consent, potentially his connections to people like Jeffrey Epstein, and his finances. All of this would be relevant in a defense to a defamation case. It would have been highly embarrassing to Trump.
When Michael Cohen was sued by Trump for $500 million, Trump dismissed his lawsuit before he had to sit for a deposition. Trump did not want to sit for an under-oath deposition noticed by Cohen and withdrew his lawsuit against Cohen. Trump backed down after he was ordered to a deposition.
Here, it is very doubtful Trump would have sat for a deposition in this ABC case he filed. Also, if Trump did sit for a deposition, in my opinion, ABC would have been easily armed with more than enough evidence to win their lawsuit against Trump on summary judgment (a type of motion to dismiss) before there was ever a trial.
I think ABC’s lawyers clearly knew this. They were afraid that forcing Trump to do a deposition and beating Trump in court would embarrass Trump and he would retaliate against them and their parent company Disney when in office. As a result, ABC devised this settlement plan to issue a written apology to Trump and donate $15 million to a future Trump library, which it could also likely structure as a tax deduction or write-off. ABC and its parent company Disney clearly viewed this as a way to curry favor with Trump, in my opinion, and to avoid retaliation.
In entering this settlement agreement, ABC has also entered its own fate in history as being a total and utter disgrace.
There are some good reporters at ABC. I don’t know how they can continue to work for an organization that has completely capitulated in advance in such a humiliating and cowardly way.
In many ways, given the subject matter of the lawsuit filed by Trump against ABC, it is also a slap in the face to sexual assault victims. ABC’s settlement with Trump is perhaps one of the, if not the single most, pathetic acts of any journalistic entity in the history of America.
ABC is a subsidiary of Disney. It is funded and owned by billionaires. You probably didn’t know this, but Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, is also one of the largest shareholders of Disney, through the Murdoch Family Trust. Disney is owned and funded by other billionaire oligarchical interests as well. Their interest is money. Not democracy. They don’t give a crap about we the people.
Let me be clear. Here at the MeidasTouch Network, we will never obey in advance, or ever. I don’t want billionaire investors here. I don’t give a crap about appeasing Trump. I don’t care if Trump or his goons come after me. I am not scared. I’m reminded of the saying, “A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.”
Let that be our motto. Let us not be scared. Let us not sacrifice our dignity, our respect, and our values. Let us never submit to Trump and the billionaire oligarchy. We will fight every single day for this country.
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