Another victim of "LOS", loss of spine...

Paramount to settle with Trump for $16M over ‘60 Minutes’ interview

Trump’s team alleged the network had deceptively edited the interview, which aired in October.

By Nicole Markus

CBS parent company Paramount Global will pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over edits to an October interview conducted with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent in 2024.

Trump’s team alleged the network had deceptively edited the interview, which aired on “60 Minutes.” And in April, after filing a civil suit for $20 billion, the president called for the network to lose its broadcast license.

“I am so honored to be suing 60 Minutes, CBS Fake News, and Paramount, over their fraudulent, beyond recognition, reporting,” he wrote on TruthSocial at the time. “They did everything possible to illegally elect Kamala, including completely and corruptly changing major answers to Interview questions, but it just didn’t work for them.”

The money from the settlement will go toward Trump’s presidential library, POLITICO Playbook reported, and will not be accompanied by an apology from the network. Paramount’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team called the settlement “another win for the American people.”

“CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle,” the spokesperson said. “President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People.”

CBS released the entire unedited video in February, and said the edited version was part of “commonplace editorial practices,” POLITICO reported in April. In a motion filed in April, Paramount’s legal team wrote the lawsuit was “an affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.”

“They not only ask for $20 billion in damages but also seek an order directing how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future. The First Amendment stands resolutely against these demands,” the motion read.

Freedom of the Press Foundation, a Paramount Global shareholder, informed executives in May that they would file a derivative lawsuit if the company settled with Trump. The lawsuit would allow company shareholders to recover damages sustained to the company.

Several senators, including Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), opened an investigation into Paramount Global in May regarding whether their willingness to negotiate a settlement with Trump may fall into the category of illegal bribery.

“The senators are pushing Paramount to answer why the company has suddenly changed its tune with respect to the lawsuit, concerned that it may be because Paramount and Skydance’s agreement to merge for $8 billion hinges on the Trump Administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has an opportunity to block it,” the statement on the investigation read.

The top producer on “60 Minutes,” CBS’s flagship news magazine show, resigned in April, saying he lost his independence over the direction of the show and signaling the impact that the Trump administration had on the program.

“Over the past months, it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it,” Bill Owens wrote in the memo, shared with POLITICO. “So, having defended this show — and what we stand for — from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward.”