Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski is forced to make legal note about Trump after ABC’s $16 million debacle

It appears MSNBC has learned a lesson from their competitors at ABC News after Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski slammed a guest with a legal note regarding Donald Trump.

ABC News settled with Donald Trump for $16 million after anchor George Stephanopoulos inaccurately said on-air that the president-elect was found ‘liable for rape’ – rather than the correct phrasing of sexual abuse – against writer E. Jean Carroll in a March interview with Nancy Mace.

Mika Brzezinski, who along with her co-host and husband Joe Scarborough have attempted to make peace with Trump in recent months, was ready to put out the fire with guest Scott Galloway, an author, podcast host and professor of the NYU School of Business, where Donald’s youngest son Barron is enrolled.

Galloway was discussing the reasons why Trump beat Kamala Harris in November when he incorrectly slammed the president-elect.

‘We are in the midst of a series of small revolutions to correct income inequality. And the reason we put an insurrectionist and a rapist in office is because for the first time in our nation’s history, a 30-year-old man or woman isn’t doing as well as his or his or her parents were at third,’ Galloway said. 

As the ‘great conversation’ ended, Brzezinki made sure to correct Galloway to his face.

‘I want to make a comment about a word that was used in this interview. Donald Trump was tried civilly and was found libel of sexual abuse, not rape. But the judge in the case likened his actions to rape, but the liability was officially called sexual abuse.’ 

Brzezinski cut to a commercial before Galloway could respond. 

Brzezinski, who along with her co-host and husband Joe Scarborough have attempted to make peace with Trump in recent months, was ready to put out the fire with guest Scott Galloway, a professor of the NYU School of Business, where Donald’s youngest son Barron is enrolled

In an email to DailyMail.com, Galloway believed that Brzezinski made the right call in response to his statement but noted it was a sign of troubling times.

‘Mika was doing her job. It’s a reflection on the double standard in media where traditional media has greater liability exposure (ABC, NewsCorp.) , and ‘nascent’ media platforms (Meta, X) can traffic in conspiracy/misinformation with impunity,’ he said. 

The husband and wife have been caught up in plenty of drama after making a visit to President-Elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, infuriating their viewers. 

The two MSNBC hosts had met with Trump after a long feud, with the pair long criticizing  the president-elect as a racist, sexist, fascist, and likened him to Adolf Hitler. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to MSNBC and Professor Galloway for comment. 

Stephanopoulos is reportedly ‘apoplectic’ and ‘humiliated’ about the decision by his longtime employers to pay the settlement money. 

However, legal experts have claimed that ignoring multiple network warnings not to say ‘rape’ on-air likely hurt their ability to fight back against Trump. 

Multiple anonymous sources now tell the New York Post that Stephanopoulos was warned not to say ‘rape’ multiple times before going to air. 

Legal experts have claimed that ignoring multiple network warnings not to say ‘rape’ on-air likely hurt their ability to fight back against Trump

Stephanopoulos is reportedly ‘apoplectic’ and ‘humiliated’ about the decision by his longtime employers to pay the settlement money

 The segment involved him interviewing Mace, with Stephanopoulos pressing her on why she endorsed Trump after he was found liable of sexual abuse. 

Stephanopoulos said: ‘I’m asking you a question, about why you endorse someone who’s been found liable for rape?’ 

Mace, who has seen her stock rise since Trump’s election, accused the anchor of trying to shame her by bringing up the case. 

The congresswoman went on: ‘As a rape victim, who’s been shamed for years now because of her rape. You’re trying to shame me again.’ 

Mace was raped when she was 16 years old and says it is what drives her to be an advocate for women’s issues. 

”I have endorsed a man that I believe is best for our country. It’s not Joe Biden. You looked at the dueling rallies yesterday, in Georgia.

 And here you are trying to shame a rape victim. I find it disgusting.’

‘You keep saying I’m shaming you. How is a question about a presidential candidate—’ Stephanopoulos said. ‘You’re asking a rape victim,’ Mace cut in.

ABC chose to settle with Donald Trump over George Stephanopoulos’ on-air comments because they didn’t want the star anchor, who is ‘sloppy electronically,’ to come under further scrutiny

The settlement, first reported by Fox News, was publicly filed on Saturday and revealed that the parties had come to an agreement in the suit.

As part of the agreement, ABC also has to post a note on its website expressing regret over the claim in a March 10 segment on ‘This Week’ made by Stephanopoulos.

A statement from the network said: ‘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 had sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation soon after the segment aired. 

His lawyers accused Stephanopoulos of making the statements with ‘malice’ and a disregard for the truth. 

A New York jury in May 2023 ordered Trump to pay $5 million in damages for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. 

He was then ordered to pay another $83.3 million for defamation after he publicly denied sexually abusing Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996.

Jurors had deliberated for less than three hours following a two-week civil trial in which the former president testified for just three minutes.

Stephanopoulos was initially defiant of the lawsuit, telling Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be ‘cowed out of doing my job because of a threat’. 

He added: ‘Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen. We filed a motion to dismiss.’

Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages alleging the network practiced ‘deceptive conduct’ when they interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris in October.  

Lawyers for the president claimed numerous violations by the broadcaster including lying in a thoughtful and malevolent way, according to a lawsuit. 

They wrote the complaint is because of ‘CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public.’

Trump and his team also allege that CBS News was trying to run cover for Democrats by making Kamala Harris’ performance look better than it was.