CBS owner considers settling Trump suit over Kamala Harris' '60 Minutes' interview ahead of merger review: report

Paramount Global executives have held internal talks about settling a 
lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump over CBS News’ interview 
with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report.

Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is hoping to close its planned 
merger with Skydance Media in the coming months but has been sued by Trump 
for allegedly favorably editing the “60 Minutes” sit-down with Harris just 
before the election

In recent months, it has become clear that Trump’s dissatisfaction with 
CBS News is proving to be a major hurdle, and it will likely need to pony 
up concessions to win approval, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Post had previously reported that the deal will likely remain in 
regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future under Trump-nominated FCC 
chair Brendan Carr, unless it satisfies certain “fairness” conditions that 
will be demanded by Trump’s FCC.

The FCC has authority over the deal because it would involve the transfer 
of broadcast TV licenses held by local CBS-owned stations.

The Journal said there was no indication that Paramount had approached 
Trump’s team about a settlement, but executives at the company were gaming 
out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration in order 
to facilitate the merger.

A rep for Trump did not immediately comment on whether Paramount had 
contacted the President-elect’s team.

One source told The Post that the talks have been described as “informal,” 
meaning there have been no presentations or formal plans devised.

Reps for Paramount and Skydance did not comment.

At issue is Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against CBS, which alleges that 
the network committed election interference by editing portions of the “60 
Minutes” interview with Harris to eliminate a “word salad” answer about 
the Israel-Hamas war.

Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on “60 Minutes” and 
another version on its show “Face the Nation,” each containing different 
answers, and demanded the network release the transcript of the taped 
interview.

CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris’s interview on “60 
Minutes” for clarity. It has refused to release a full transcript of the 
interview.

Reports of settlement talks follow a capitulation by rival ABC News in a 
defamation suit brought by Trump.

He sued the Disney-owned network and star anchor George Stephanopoulos 
over comments the “This Week” host made on air stating that Trump had been 
found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

A federal jury determined Trump was liable for sexual abuse.

Last month, Disney settled the defamation lawsuit, agreeing to contribute 
$15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation or museum and to pay $1 
million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer. 

Recently, Carr wrote a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, ripping national 
news media, saying: “Americans no longer trust the national news media to 
report fully, accurately, and fairly.”

His thinking extends to CBS’ coverage, as well.

As a result, Paramount and Skydance execs have considered a number of 
possible changes, such as bringing in more oversight over CBS News 
editorial operations, adding new processes around programming and possibly 
releasing the transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, The 
Journal reported.

This week, CBS News announced that it appointed veteran CBS News producer 
Susan Zirinsky as executive editor to oversee the network’s editorial 
process and journalistic standards on an interim basis amid allegations of 
bias.

The network is currently looking for a permanent hire and has reached out 
to several cable news execs for the role, a source said.

The move follows a handful of missteps by the network, including its most 
recent flap over a Jan. 12 segment on “60 Minutes” about the Biden 
administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. The segment triggered 
concerns over bias at the news division.

Jewish organizations and the Anti-Defamation League ripped the episode for 
being slanted against Israel.

Executives internally raised questions about why more context wasn’t added 
to the piece to make it more balanced, The Journal reported.

Meanwhile, Skydance, which is run by David Ellison — the son of 
billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump booster — is itching 
to close the $8 billion Paramount deal, which has painstakingly taken 
months to hammer out with controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who also 
has a good relationship with Trump.

Under the terms of the deal, Skydance and its investors agreed buy out 
Redstone’s Paramount stake and merge it with Skydance, which as produced 
films for the studio that include the latest “Mission: Impossible” sequels 
and “Top Gun: Maverick.”

A person close to Skydance said David Ellison would support measures to 
promote unbiased journalism, The Journal said.

https://nypost.com/2025/01/17/media/cbs-owner-considers-settling-trump-
suit-over-kamala-harris-60-minutes-interview-ahead-of-merger-review-
report/