George Stephanopoulos Deletes X Account After ABC News, Trump Lawsuit Settlement

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos deactivated his account on X, formerly Twitter, where he had more than 2.3 million followers.

Stephanopoulos’ account on Elon Musk-owned X (@GStephanopoulos) is no longer available, displaying a message that says, “This account doesn’t exist.” Stephanopoulos’ Instagram account remains active.

Stephanopoulos’ X account went dark at some point over the weekend, after ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against the network and Stephanopoulos over the anchor’s inaccurate comment in a March 2024 interview on ABC News’ “This Week” that “Donald Trump has been found liable for rape by a jury.” Stephanopoulos was referring to a jury’s verdict that found Trump had sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.

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Reps for Stephanopoulos and ABC News did not respond to requests for comment.

Under the settlement between Trump and Disney-owned ABC News, which was revealed Saturday, the network will pay $15 million to “a presidential foundation and museum” established by Trump. ABC also agreed to pay $1 million in fees to Trump’s legal team as stated in the settlement.

“[T]he Parties desire to resolve the Action without further litigation and, therefore, have agreed to compromise, settle and release any and all claims between Plaintiff and Defendants that arise out of the Interview or the Action to avoid further expense, inconvenience and distraction out of litigation,” the settlement agreement in the case reads.

Also under the settlement, ABC News appended the following apology statement as an editor’s note at the bottom of the story on its website about the interview that prompted the suit, which reads as follows: “Editor’s Note: ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”

Trump was ordered by a jury in the Carroll case to pay her damages of $83.3 million, the New York Times reported. Trump is appealing the verdict.

Stephanopoulos, who joined ABC News in 1997, is co-anchor of “Good Morning America” and anchor for ABC’s Sunday show “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” He also founded George Stephanopoulos Productions (GSP), his eponymous production unit within ABC News.