REUTERS
The Issue: President-elect Donald Trump’s lawsuits against Disney, Gannett and other news outlets.
ABC News agreed to settle a lawsuit from President-elect Donald Trump, paying $16 million over comments ABC’s George Stephanopoulos made about Trump and the writer E. Jean Carroll (“As Sleazy As ABC,” Dec. 19).
Stephanopoulos incorrectly said Trump had been held liable for “raping” Carroll, when he’d been found liable for sexual assault.
Stephanopoulos had not apologized.
He was wrong but afraid to admit to what he in fact did — which is costing Disney, ABC’s parent company, millions of dollars.
Harold Fishman
Manhattan
President-elect Trump should use the $16 million to create a section of his presidential library exclusively dedicated to fake news — with a big picture of Stephanopoulos front and center.
This will serve as a permanent record for all to see — an example of fake-news reporters and the bias they spewed to further their own agenda and interfere with the election.
Marty Sendlewski
Riverhead
And you all thought that the mainstream media reported factual news, didn’t you?
Well, guess what: Now, after Donald Trump won a $16 million settlement, we safely say that they are as corrupt as ever.
Ron Zajicek
Cortland
ABC News and George Stephanopoulos have been exposed for the calculating disinformation propagators that they and other legacy media outlets truly are.
For the last nine years, the apparent objective of the mainstream press has been to keep non-stop negative reporting in the public eye, hoping it would sway viewers against Trump.
While the president-elect is still very much in the headlines, the media’s plan seems to be backfiring, since the latest court decisions — including the Fani Willis decision — have turned the media’s “lemonade” into “sour lemons.”
Jerry Chiappetta
Monticello
If my former boss told me not to do something, and I did it anyway, I would be fired for insubordination.
Not so for Stephanopoulos, who used the word “rape” in describing Trump’s conviction, despite his producer’s many warnings.
Of course he won’t be fired, but how about taking the $16 million he cost his network out of his generous salary?
That would be a good lesson for all. We have bosses for a reason.
Robert Feuerstein
Staten Island
It gives me great satisfaction to see that Disney wound up having to cough up $16 million to settle this lawsuit.
It was because of George Stephanopoulos and the claims he made about Trump.
He was told not to use or say the word “rape,” but he did not listen to his ABC News producer.
No: Stephanopoulos took matters into his own hands, and the network was not pleased, and now it has to pay for it.
The now “Furious George,” which he’s being called, should listen to the top brass of ABC News and think before he opens his mouth.
Rob Johann
Queens
Chalk one up for Trump in his defamation suit win over George Stephanopoulos and ABC News.
Let’s hope this is one of many lawsuits President-elect Trump will win.
Tommy DeJulio
Delray Beach, Fla.
The sore winner, lawsuit-happy huckster has found a new favorite pastime (“Paper, pollster sued for Kam Iowa ‘win,’ ” Dec. 18).
This time, Donald Trump is suing Gannett, the parent company of a newspaper in Iowa, the Des Moines Register, and its top pollster Ann Selzer for “brazen election interference” by predicting he would lose the state to Vice President Kamala Harris.
The respected newspaper suffered the ignominy of blowing the call — but Trump, true to his vindictive nature, wants more.
Now I’m thinking of suing Las Vegas odds-makers for a football game I lost money on this season.
Vin Morabito
Scranton, Pa.
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