Eric Trump filed incorporation paperwork Friday for the nonprofit organization tasked with funding the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library—and in a twist few saw coming, two of the first major donors will be ABC News and Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

According to The New York Times, the two companies will contribute a combined $37 million to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation as part of separate lawsuit settlements with President Trump.

In December, ABC News agreed to a $15 million settlement to resolve a defamation suit filed by President Trump. The case stemmed from a March 2024 interview in which ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly asserted that Trump had been “found liable for rape” and for “defaming a victim of rape” while speaking with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), a supporter of Trump’s re-election campaign.

As the Associated Press noted, Mace—herself a survivor of sexual assault—clarified that the ruling against Trump came in a civil, not criminal, court. Civil cases require a lower burden of proof—only that something is more likely than not—rather than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard of criminal proceedings.

The civil jury ultimately determined that Trump had committed "sexual abuse," not rape, according to the contested testimony of E. Jean Carroll, who claimed that the incident took place in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s—though she was unsure of the exact year. Carroll alleged Trump forcibly kissed her and attempted intercourse before she broke free.

President Trump has consistently denied the accusations, describing Carroll as a “whack job” and calling the story fabricated. During a deposition for the 2023 trial, he questioned the plausibility of such an act occurring undetected in a busy department store: “You’re talking about going to a major floor — probably, I assume, the most important floor — a major floor in a major department store, that’s a very busy store, by the way.”

Trump added, “I mean, it’s the most ridiculous — it’s the most ridiculous, disgusting story. It was just made up.”

According to the New York Post, Trump’s legal team pointed out that Carroll’s account bore strong resemblance to a 2012 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which a character describes a role-play rape fantasy occurring in a Bergdorf’s dressing room. Carroll admitted she was aware of the episode but claimed not to have seen it.

Carroll had previously told Anderson Cooper in a 2019 interview that many people see rape as "sexy," stating: “They think of the fantasies.”

Trump lamented on Truth Social that the judge barred him from presenting this interview to the jury: “Judge [Lewis] Kaplan is refusing me my Constitutional Right to Due Process, to defend myself against this False Accusation. This is a one-sided trial, where the other side is allowed everything, and we are allowed nothing.”

ABC’s $15 million payment appears to be a strategic settlement, likely aimed at avoiding a high-profile trial in Florida, especially after American voters—fully aware of these accusations and media narratives—re-elected Trump to the presidency.

Meta also settled a lawsuit earlier this year, agreeing to pay $22 million toward the Trump library’s construction. The lawsuit concerned Trump’s suspension from Facebook following the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta additionally agreed to cover $3 million in legal fees and other settlements for co-plaintiffs.

The original complaint, filed by Trump and others in 2021, highlighted the dangers of unchecked censorship: “Censorship runs rampant, and the result is a chilling effect cast over our nation’s pressing political, medical, social, and cultural discussions,” it read, according to the Journal.

The plaintiffs sought full reinstatement of their accounts and demanded that all content warnings be removed. Meta reinstated Trump’s Facebook account in January 2023 after he declared his candidacy for a return to the White House.

While President Trump will still need to raise additional funds to realize his full vision—including an Air Force One exhibit akin to the Reagan Library—these early contributions from media giants carry more than just financial weight.

Donors are typically honored with plaques or permanent fixtures in presidential libraries. It would be fitting—and likely amusing to the President himself—if ABC News and Meta end up featured prominently among those commemorated.

What began as an effort to silence Trump has, ironically, made these media powerhouses some of the first benefactors of the institution that will preserve his legacy.