{"id":32871,"date":"2025-07-02T15:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32871\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:09:10","slug":"paramount-settles-with-trump-for-16-million-over-60-minutes-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/32871\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount settles with Trump for $16 million over \u201860 Minutes\u2019 interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 In a case seen as a challenge to American free-speech principles, Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit<\/a> by President Donald Trump over the editing of CBS\u2019 \u201c 60 Minutes\u201d interview<\/a> with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October.<\/p>\n

Paramount, which owns CBS, said the money will go to Trump\u2019s future presidential library, not to the Republican president himself. It said the settlement did not involve an apology.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s lawyer said Trump had suffered \u201cmental anguish\u201d over the editing of the interview by CBS News, while Paramount and CBS rejected his contention that it was edited to enhance how Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, sounded. They had called Trump\u2019s case \u201ccompletely without merit\u201d and tried to have it dismissed, even while involved in settlement negotiations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The CBS logo at the entrance to its headquarters, in New York Dec. 6, 2018. (AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan, File)<\/p>\n

The CBS logo at the entrance to its headquarters, in New York Dec. 6, 2018. (AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The case was widely discussed and was being seen as a referendum on how far organizations would go to curry favor with Trump. Paramount is simultaneously seeking approval from his administration for its proposed merger with Skydance Media.<\/p>\n

In a meeting with shareholders on Wednesday, Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks said companies often settle litigation to avoid high legal costs and the unpredictability of a trial. Settlement allows a company to focus on its objectives \u201crather than being mired in uncertainty and distraction,\u201d Cheeks said.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Trump\u2019s legal team said that with the settlement, Trump \u201cdelivers another win for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paramount agreed that \u201860 Minutes\u2019 transcripts will be released<\/p>\n

In early February, \u201c60 Minutes\u201d released a full, unedited transcript<\/a> of the Harris interview.<\/p>\n

Under the settlement reached with help of a mediator, Paramount agreed that \u201c60 Minutes\u201d will release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates, \u201csubject to redactions as required for legal and national security concerns,\u201d CBS News cited the statement as saying. <\/p>\n

Trump, who did not agree to be interviewed by \u201c60 Minutes\u201d during the campaign, protested editing where Harris is seen giving two different answers to a question by the show\u2019s Bill Whitaker in separate clips aired on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and \u201cFace the Nation\u201d earlier in the day. CBS said each reply came within Harris\u2019 long-winded answer to Whitaker, but was edited to be more succinct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis settlement is a cowardly capitulation by the corporate leaders of Paramount, and a fundamental betrayal of \u201860 Minutes\u2019 and CBS News,\u201d said Rome Hartman, a producer of the Harris interview for the show. \u201cThe story that was the subject of this lawsuit was edited by the book and in accordance with CBS News standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correspondents had worried of a settlement with \u2018wrongdoing\u2019 implications<\/p>\n

In a letter to Paramount\u2019s leadership in early May, \u201c60 Minutes\u201d correspondents said they were troubled by reports that Paramount might settle the case \u201cin a way that acknowledges some sort of wrongdoing on our part.\u201d<\/p>\n

The correspondents, in the letter obtained by The Associated Press, said that \u201cif our parent company caves in to his pressure and lies, it will leave a shameful stain and undermine the First Amendment.\u201d It was signed by Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, Sharyn Alfonsi, Jon Wertheim and Cecilia Vega.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s lawyer, Edward Andrew Paltzik, said the interview caused confusion and \u201cmental anguish,\u201d misleading voters and causing them to pay less attention to Trump and his Truth Social online platform. <\/p>\n

Paramount and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone were seeking the settlement with Trump. CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon<\/a> and \u201c60 Minutes\u201d executive producer Bill Owens<\/a>, who both opposed a settlement, resigned in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The Freedom of the Press Foundation<\/a>, a media advocacy group that says it is a Paramount shareholder, has said that it would file a lawsuit in protest if a settlement was reached.<\/p>\n

In December, ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit<\/a> by Trump over statements made by anchor George Stephanopoulos, agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trump\u2019s presidential library rather than engage in a public fight. Meta reportedly paid $25 million<\/a> to settle Trump\u2019s lawsuit against the company over its decision to suspend his social media accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 In a case seen as a challenge to American free-speech principles, Paramount has agreed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[27603,27602,3881,27597,27594,64,27599,69,27600,15528,57,27595,27593,336,362,27596,8396,50,80,27604,27598,27574,27601,67,132,68,93,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-32871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-2021-united-states-capitol-riot","10":"tag-anderson-cooper","11":"tag-ap-top-news","12":"tag-bill-owens","13":"tag-bill-whitaker","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-cecilia-vega","16":"tag-donald-trump","17":"tag-edward-andrew-paltzik","18":"tag-freedom-of-the-press","19":"tag-general-news","20":"tag-george-stephanopoulos","21":"tag-kamala-harris","22":"tag-lawsuits","23":"tag-legal-proceedings","24":"tag-lesley-stahl","25":"tag-mergers-and-acquisitions","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-politics","28":"tag-referendums","29":"tag-scott-pelley","30":"tag-shari-redstone","31":"tag-sharyn-alfonsi","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-washington-news","36":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114784276561994914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}