They finally got that little turd, George Stephanopoulos.

There’s no timeline in the multiverse where I like Stephanopoulos. I thought he was a little turd when he worked for Slick Willie as the White House Communications Director and then Senior Advisor in the 90s. Then, he graduated to being a big turd when he started hosting Good Morning America on ABC.

Now, his network will pay $15 million on his behalf to the future Trump Presidential Library, whose namesake barely reads books. Oh, the irony, but that’s just the first one.

From ABC News:

Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in federal court in Miami days after the network aired the segment, in which the longtime “Good Morning America” anchor and “This Week” host repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump.

During a live “This Week” interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Stephanopoulos wrongly claimed Trump had been “found liable for rape” and “defaming the victim of that rape.”

Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.

As a known Democratic operative, I’m sure Stephanopoulos thinks this is the cost of doing business.

The second irony of all this is that when little Georgie was working for Clinton, he was the guy who got the news networks to bury the Paula Jones story in 1994. Jones, now 58, is a former Arkansas state employee who sued Clinton for sexual harassment. Both Stephanopoulos and James Carville suggested Jones had only accused Clinton to get cash for her story. Sound familiar?

Stephanopoulos had even called NBC’s Tim Russert and CNN Chairman Tom Johnson to convince them to keep Jones’ press conference off the air.

And remember Gennifer (with a “G”) Flowers? She was a lounge club singer turned Arkansas state employee who came forward during the Clinton campaign in 1992 to say she had a 12-year affair with Slick Willie.

Clinton denied sleeping with Flowers on 60 Minutes. So she held a press conference in which she played tape recordings she had secretly made of phone calls with Clinton.

Georgie accused Flowers of doctoring her taped conversations with Clinton to make her story look credible. Stephanopoulos also called her story "tabloid trash," "garbage," and "crap." In March 1999, Stephanopoulos wrote All Too Human, writing the tapes were a “setup.” I'm not sure why he did that when, in 1998, Clinton admitted under oath to having a “sexual encounter” with her.

And yet, somehow, Flowers’ suit against Stephanopoulos (Carville was a co-defendant) was dismissed because she couldn’t prove that either of them had acted with actual malice — knowingly or recklessly disregarding the truth of their statements.

It’s impressive how the “Believe her” doctrine is abandoned when one of their own is accused.

Throwing Around Words and Due Process

There are people out there who think Trump indeed raped E. Jean Carroll because the media immediately took her side against Trump. And the people abandoned Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers because the media was in bed with those in power.

Words matter—due process matters. “Media justice,” as I’ll call it, is no justice at all.

Due process is critically important in any criminal allegation because it ensures a fair and impartial application of justice for both the accuser and the accused. Here's why it is particularly significant:

In any fair legal system, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Due process ensures that accusations alone can’t determine guilt. This protects the accused from wrongful conviction and the severe social, emotional, and legal consequences that come with it.

While many rape allegations are truthful, false accusations do happen (as we’ll explore below). Due process requires a thorough investigation, evidence-based prosecution (assuming ethical prosecutors), and a fair trial to protect against a wrongful conviction.

Due process protects the accused and ensures the accusers have their cases handled with the seriousness they deserve. By following an impartial process, courts ensure the guilty are held accountable.

Rape allegations are emotionally charged and usually lead to calls for immediate punishment. Due process prevents decisions from being driven by emotion, bias, or social pressure, ensuring that justice is based on facts and legal standards. Mob justice is no justice.

A system that respects due process builds public trust. If shortcuts are taken, the justice system's legitimacy is weakened.

A rape allegation alone has life-altering consequences, as we’ll see below. Due process should ensure any punishment is warranted and based on evidence, not mere accusation.

Due process ensures that justice is neither arbitrary nor prejudiced. It protects society by fostering fairness, prevents wrongful convictions (hopefully), and upholds the rights of all parties.

Let’s pick out one particular case that recently re-entered the spotlight.

Duke Lacrosse

Crystal Mangum, the exotic dancer who once accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her, admitted this week that she made up the 2006 allegations.

Mangum, who is now serving time for second-degree murder, said she "made up a story that wasn't true" against one-time defendants David Evans, Collin Finnerty, and Reade Seligmann, who "didn't deserve that."

"I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn't, and that was wrong." Where did she divulge this admission?

On Kate Katerena's Let's Talk with Kat podcast. I’ll get to why that’s important in a moment.

But first, guess who weighed in? Someone who knows a thing or two about false accusations:

In a further miscarriage of justice, Mangum can’t face perjury charges because the statute of limitations for perjury in North Carolina is only two years.

Now, let’s address podcasts.

Van Jones

Watching Van Jones’ eyes light up over the a-ha moment of his irrelevance was positively delicious. I couldn’t help but share his enthusiasm for his discovery.

Jones said:

First of all, digital is the new door knocking. You've got to understand that. We were laughing our butts off at Donald Trump for suspending his door-knocking campaign and letting Charlie Kirk and Elon do a bunch of stuff online. We said, ‘These guys are idiots! These guys are stupid!’

Then you start knocking on these doors… you know what people come to the door with? Their phone in their hand. They're in a 24-hour digital surround sound that has nothing to do with CNN, has nothing to do with any of the stuff that we do.

Jones then recalled that his expectations weren’t even close when he asked his teenage son who the most influential people in the world are today. He had expected to hear former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Jay-Z, only to find they had been eclipsed by online video-game streamers like Kai Cenat, Adin Ross, Jynxzi, and Sketch on platforms he hadn't heard of, like Twitch, Kik, and Rumble.

Watching him read those names off his notepad was like watching a grandfather trying to hang with his gamer grandkids. Hilarious doesn’t quite cover it. He continued:

I'm telling you guys, the mainstream has become fringe and the fringe has become mainstream. There are platforms, there are people out there that are getting 14 million streams, and we're on cable news getting 1 or 2 million, and so there is a whole world out there.

Kellyanne Conway, I hate to agree with her, but I do a lot of times – Donald Trump understood that, and we didn't. And it's not just Democrats that don't. The entire political class is way off, way off, way off.

Wait until he finds out Joe Rogan has 50 million listeners, and that’s what swung the election!

Wrap Up

The world seems to be healing.

George Stephanopoulos finally paid the price for being a liar. On a podcast, a rape accuser finally admitted she lied. And now, the lamestream media has at least one member in Van Jones who knows The Emperor Has No Clothes.

But most importantly, perhaps the courts can get back to what they should do best: punish the guilty and protect the innocent.

Have a great week!