Donald Trump has achieved a legal victory after ABC News announced that it was paying Trump $15 million and legal fees to settle a defamation lawsuit related to remarks made in March by morning news presenter George Stephanopoulos.

Following the settlement Trump said he intends to pursue further lawsuits against “dishonest” media, including the Des Moines Register newspaper for "brazen election interference" over a poll published days before the 2024 presidential election.

Could ABC’s decision to settle with Trump set a dangerous precedent for media freedoms in the US, and will there be a chilling effect on future coverage of the incoming president?

HOSTS:

GET IN TOUCH:

This episode was made by George Dabby with Rufus Gray, Catherine Fusillo and Claire Betzer. The technical producer was Michael Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including The Global Story, The Today Podcast, and of course Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd