MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend took to George Stephanopoulos’s defense Sunday, agreeing with his characterization of President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction.
Stephanopoulos is fresh from settling with Trump in a lawsuit over his comment that Trump was “liable for rape,” for which his network will pay $15 million. Trump will take the settlement toward establishing a “Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past.”
Sanders-Townsend called the settlement “insane” on MSNBC’s The Weekend on Sunday.
“I would just say, I mean, this feels like it has a real chilling effect,” Sanders-Townsend said. “Like, I mean, shout out to the standards department standards is always making sure that we are keeping the bar high and substantive and accurate. But what George Stephanopoulos said in that interview, I mean, it seems to hold up, what the judge said after the back.”
The anchor was referring to federal Judge Lewis Kaplan’s ruling, which he wrote that even though E. Jean Carroll failed to prove accusations of rape, it does not mean that she failed to prove Trump “raped” her, as many people commonly understand the word “rape.”
“And now he’s — news organization and himself George Stephanopoulos himself — is paying a million of his own money to the lawyers and ABC, $15 million. It’s insane,” Sanders-Townsend said.
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Trump has yet to publicly comment on Sanders-Townsend, seemingly reinforcing the comment that Trump accused Stephanopoulos of defaming him. The president-elect also has yet to comment on the settlement.
In addition to the settlement, ABC News issued a statement of regret at the bottom of an online article that contained the clip of Stephanopoulos’s comment.
