Mary Trump Issues ‘Doomed’ Warning After Big Legal Win for Donald Trump

Mary Trump, the estranged niece of Donald Trump, warned on Saturday that “we’re doomed” after the president-elect’s defamation lawsuit against ABC News was settled.

ABC News agreed on Saturday to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library and issue a public apology to settle a defamation lawsuit over inaccurate statements made by anchor George Stephanopoulos during a broadcast earlier this year.

Trump filed the defamation suit after Stephanopoulos claimed during a March 10 segment of ABC News’ This Week while interviewing Representative Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, that Trump had been “found liable for rape” in connection to writer E. Jean Carroll and her lawsuits against him. In May 2023, a civil jury in New York found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her character while denying the assault took place, but not of raping her.

Last year, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million, and in January was ordered to pay her $83.3 million on additional defamation claims. The president-elect is appealing both verdicts.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s settlement terms require ABC News to publish a note on its website expressing regret over the claim. Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s attorneys.

“We are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing,” ABC News said in a statement.

Responding to the settlement, Mary Trump, a vocal critic of her uncle, took to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote Saturday evening: “How many coloring books can $15 million buy? Also, we’re doomed.”

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s transition team and Mary Trump via email for comment on Sunday morning.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over both Carroll cases, clarified in July 2023 that the jury’s conclusion reflected specific legal definitions.

“The definition of rape in the New York Penal Law is far narrower than the meaning of ‘rape’ in common modern parlance, its definition in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes, and elsewhere,” he wrote.

The judge further noted that the jury’s conclusion meant Carroll had failed to prove rape “within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law.” However, Kaplan emphasized this did not mean Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.'”

While it is not clear what Mary Trump specifically meant with her warning of “doomed,” it is not the first time she has warned people about her uncle.

In November, shortly after Trump was elected to a second term in a decisive victory against Vice President...