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New York NY, In a high-profile resolution, ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos have settled a defamation lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump. The agreement, filed in court Saturday, includes a public apology and a $15 million contribution toward the funding of Trump’s future presidential library.
By Emily Smith
May 18, 2015 | 9:47pm
ABC has plenty of reasons to be freaking out over the George Stephanopoulos scandal — 105 million, to be exact.
The “Good Morning America” and “This Week” anchor renewed his contract last year for $105 million, TV industry sources told The Post Monday.
The seven-year deal — which dwarfs the five-year, $50 million contract scored by since-suspended NBC rivalBrian Williams — was supposed to keep Stephanopoulos in front of ABC’s cameras through 2021.
But now his credibility, and future, have been called into question since he admitted Friday that he haddonated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation since 2011, just as the presidential race gears up with Hillary Rodham Clinton the leading Democrat.
In a mea culpa delivered Sunday on “This Week,” Stephanopoulos, who was also a top aide in President Bill Clinton’s White House, said the gifts “were a matter of public record, but I should have made additional disclosures on air when we covered the foundation.”
It was his second on-air apology in less than a week.
Sources have said ABC News execs were blindsided by Stephanopoulos’ largesse, and one TV insider noted Monday that “ABC really has all their money on Stephanopoulos.”
https://pagesix.com/2015/05/18/george-stephanopoulos-future-and-105m-contract-in-danger/
