'Ring Kissed': Dem Lawyer Tears Into 'Obedience' of ABC News Settling Trump Defamation Suit With 'Knee Bent'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

Dec 14th, 2024, 6:51 pm


High-profile Democratic attorney Marc Elias blasted ABC News on Saturday evening after the network settled a defamation lawsuit that was filed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Elias posted on social media he viewed the settlement as a sign that yet another media outlet was waving the white flag regarding Trump.

The network apologized to Trump over comments network anchor George Stephanopoulos made earlier this year during a Sunday morning interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). Stephanopoulos said numerous times Trump had been adjudicated of rape while referring to the E. Jean Carroll civil sexual abuse lawsuit – which she won.

Trump sued for defamation, arguing the anchor made “demonstrably false” remarks with “actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/trump/ring-kissed-dem-lawyer-tears-into-obedience-of-abc-news-settling-trump-defamation-suit-with-knee-bent/

---

Heads-up to DU (from the above-linked article) -

Elias also announced his intention to leave X by the end of the month and to join Bluesky.

Link to tweet

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
·
Follow
By end of year I will stop posting on X. You can follow me on Bluesky (http://marcelias.bsky.social).

But the best way to stay up to date is to subscribe to Democracy Docket for free. https://democracydocket.com/me-subscribe/
3:39 PM · Dec 14, 2024

Link to tweet

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
·
Follow
Knee bent. Ring kissed. Another legacy news outlet chooses obedience.

A reminder, Democracy Docket is fiercely independent and unapologetically pro-democracy. It will not back down. It will not obey. Sign-up to support. http://democracydocket.com/me-subscribe...
The Associated Press
@AP
BREAKING: ABC News agrees to pay $15 million to Trump's presidential library to settle defamation suit filed by president-elect. https://apnews.com/article/abc-trump-lawsuit-defamation-stephanopoulos-04aea8663310af39ae2a85f4c1a56d68?taid=675df07a59fc7f00013901b6&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
3:55 PM · Dec 14, 2024

Link to tweet

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
·
Follow
I bet Bezos, Zuckerberg and the rest are bummed that they will now need to match the $15m payment to Trump in order to keep up with Disney.
4:15 PM · Dec 14, 2024

Link to tweet

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
·
Follow
Does anyone have a list of legacy media that have not (yet) apologized to, praised and/or paid Trump since Election Day?
4:30 PM · Dec 14, 2024

[guss]

1. Mindless ball licking cowards

Just sad and feeble the 4th estate has become.

[J_William_Ryan]

2. Trump had been adjudicated of rape - it's a fact of law, not 'defamation.'

ABC has joined the Trump Cult facilitating post-truth America.

[LymphocyteLover]

3. Right??? Where is the defamation exactly?

[SunSeeker]

5. Right! Carroll's judge himself said the jury found Trump raped Carroll.

Judge Kaplan, who presided over both of Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump, said the definition of rape in the state code was “far narrower” than how rape is defined in common modern parlance, in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes and elsewhere.

Under New York law, a rape finding requires vaginal penetration by a penis. Forcible penetration without consent of the vagina or other bodily orifices by fingers or anything else is labeled “sexual abuse.”

But, Judge Kaplan said the verdict did not mean that Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed ... the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-abc-lawsuit_n_675df4d7e4b0e1241a417b15

[thesquanderer]

14. Instead of $, I think this is what the settlement should have been...

They should have had George Stephanopoulos do a spot that said something like:

"I'd like to apologize to Donald Trump. I had broadcast that he had been adjudicated of rape. In fact, while what he was found to have committed would have been called rape in many states and in a common usage of the term, technically, what he was found to have done did not qualify as rape in the state of New York, but rather as sexual assault, and I should have been more clear. While whether or not he committed rape may be a matter of perspective, technically, by the laws of New York, he was adjudicated of sexual assault rather than rape."

And run it over and over. It serves the purpose of addressing the "defamation" albeit in a way Trump would likely regret, as it would instead be a frequently repeated reminder to the public that he was indeed found responsible for sexual assault.

[SunSeeker]

19. It wasn't "sexual assault" under NY law.

The actual legal term under New York law for act Trump was found to have committed was "sexual abuse." Which is a very banal New York law term for what everyone else would call rape, namely forced vaginal penetration, albeit not with a penis.

[thesquanderer]

20. Ah yes, abuse, not assault. Still not something to be proud of...

...unless maybe you're putting it on your resume to be appointed to some position in the trump administration.

[SunSeeker]

22. Judge Kaplan said the jury found Trump raped Carroll, so I'm going with that description. nt

[SunSeeker]

4. Marc Elias is one of the dwindling few still willing to speak truth to power.

Everyone should be following Mark Elias on Bluesky. All of his tweets on Twitter are also posted on Bluesky: http://marcelias.bsky.social/

[Bengus81]

6. I'll have to do that on Bluesky. I've watched him for years on Brian Tyler Cohen

Him and his law firm fight endlessly against Republicans non-stop efforts to game the voting system in State after State.

[From The Ashes]

16. I've seen him with Brian Tyler Cohen too

He puts out a newsletter too, called Democracy Docket.

[bluestarone]

18. Yes he is!

These bastards will target him big time!!

[GiqueCee]

7. Okay, so let me get this straight...

... ABC's on-air talent repeated a documented, irrefutable fact, to which, in typical fashion, the Orange Shitgibbon took umbrage. So now the Orange Shitgibbon's... wait – LIBRARY?!!? – of dried-out Sharpies and broken crayons is getting $15 mil and ABC's balls.
Sounds legit.

[Sequoia]

12. A library of Little Golden Books

[GiqueCee]

13. My father...

... illustrated hundreds of Little Golden Books. I'd hate to see any of his books in the possession of the Orange Shitgibbon.

[Sequoia]

25. Nice !

I learned to read from those wonderful books.

[Hartpi978]

8. Access guaranteed

But now they are guaranteed continued access to Trump's firehose of lies.

[oldmanlynn]

9. Is marc elias the only one fighting for Dems?

Im glad he is on our team but where is the Democratic Party leaders?

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "where is the Democratic Party leaders?"

Congress is still in session trying to keep the government from being shut down (let alone with Dems trying to keep poison-pill crap out of any CR).... and in the Senate, Schumer is trying to get judges confirmed.

As you probably know, Nancy Pelosi just had a hip replacement at a base in Germany.

I try to post what gets published by the M$M but this is probably a situation where those who are on social media and follow our Dem leadership, do see their "commentary" (whether the 45 bought-and-paid-for media cover it or not).

I know many on DU hate those social media enities but that is what is being used for "communications" unfortunately.

[SunSeeker]

23. What social media sites do you follow for news?

I need alternatives to the MSM.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I actually have no social media accounts

If one is linked to in a news article (and they often are), and it will let me view it, I'll look at it. Before Musk bought it, I used to have the "web versions" of twitter accounts (in browser tabs) for some of the M$M reporters like Scott McFarlane (CBS), Kyle Cheney (Politico), and Ryan Reilly (NBC) because they were stationed at a D.C. courthouse watching the grand juries and live-blogging cases. After it was bought and became "X", the access changed for something as simple as monitoring the posts without having to have an account, and log in.

[Rebl2]

11. Feels like it😐

[Karasu]

15. Americans never get to talk about "self-sufficiency" or "rugged individualism" ever fucking again when the vast majority

seem to be bending over backwards to kiss the ring of an insurrectionist criminal.

[SWBTATTReg]

17. So much for Freedom of the Press, eh? ABC cowards. I wonder how they'll all act when tRUMP does his first foul

deed of his new term. I'm not looking forward to it.

[Miguelito Loveless]

21. After January 20th

we will no longer be able to trust anything the government or Corporate Media tell us.