Presidential payoff

Paramount accused of bribery as it settles Trump lawsuit for $16 million

CBS owner won't apologize for reporting but gives $16M to presidential library.

Jon Brodkin – Jul 2, 2025 12:15 pm | 189

President Donald Trump during a press conference in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025. Credit: Getty Images | Joe Raedle

CBS owner Paramount has reached a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over his claim that 60 Minutes deceptively manipulated a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris. Trump's lawsuit has been widely described as frivolous, but Paramount seemed motivated to settle because its pending $8.4 billion merger with Skydance needed regulatory approval from the Trump administration.

In a statement provided to Ars today, Paramount said it "has reached an agreement in principle to resolve the lawsuit filed by President Trump and Representative [Ronny] Jackson in the Northern District of Texas and a threatened defamation action concerning a separate 60 Minutes report."

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called for a bribery investigation into Paramount. "With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration's approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight," she said in a statement today. "Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so I'm calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws were broken."

Sens. Warren, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) previously told Paramount Chair Shari Redstone in a letter that settling the lawsuit could violate the federal bribery law making it "illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act."

NPR reported that "Trump declared victory in holding 'the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit,' according to a spokesperson for his legal team, who said Paramount and CBS had no choice but to settle. 'President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.'"

Payout to future presidential library

Paramount told us that the settlement terms were proposed by a mediator and that it will pay $16 million, including plaintiffs' fees and costs. That amount, minus the fees and costs, will be allocated to Trump's future presidential library, Paramount said. Trump's complaint sought at least $20 billion in damages.

Paramount also said that "no amount will be paid directly or indirectly to President Trump or Rep. Jackson personally" and that the settlement will release Paramount from "all claims regarding any CBS reporting through the date of the settlement, including the Texas action and the threatened defamation action."

Warren's statement said the "settlement exposes a glaring need for rules to restrict donations to sitting presidents' libraries," and that she will "introduce new legislation to rein in corruption through presidential library donations. The Trump administration's level of sheer corruption is appalling and Paramount should be ashamed of putting its profits over independent journalism."

Trump previously obtained settlements from ABC, Meta, and X Corp.

Paramount said the settlement "does not include a statement of apology or regret." It "agreed that in the future, 60 Minutes will release transcripts of interviews with eligible US presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns."

FCC’s news distortion investigation

Trump and Paramount previously told the court that they were in advanced settlement negotiations and are scheduled to file a joint status report on Thursday.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has been probing CBS over the Harris interview and holding up Paramount's merger with Skydance. Carr revived a complaint that was previously dismissed by the FCC and which alleges that CBS intentionally distorted the news by airing two different answers given by Harris to the same question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CBS released an unedited transcript and camera feeds of the interview that show the two clips simply showed two different sentences from the same answer. But Carr wasn't satisfied with CBS's response and has said he would consider the news distortion complaint in the FCC's review of the Paramount/Skydance merger.

Now that Paramount has settled with Trump, it wouldn't be surprising to see Carr end the news distortion investigation and approve the merger. But Paramount has insisted that the "lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process."

CBS execs resigned

In April, 60 Minutes Executive Producer Bill Owens resigned and reportedly told staff in a memo that "over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience." CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon resigned in May, saying it had "become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward."

The Freedom of the Press Foundation told Redstone in May that it plans to file a shareholder derivative lawsuit on behalf of Paramount if the company settles with Trump.

"As you know, the prospect of settling has drawn widespread backlash from CBS News employees as well as outside journalists and First Amendment advocates and led to ridicule from late-night talk show hosts," the group's letter said. "Disinterested experts almost unanimously agree that Trump's lawsuit is frivolous. Everyone from US senators to respected financial writers have noted that a settlement could amount to a bribe to Trump and his administration in exchange for their approving and not impeding the Paramount-Skydance merger."

Paramount itself said in a court filing that the "lawsuit is an affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact." The company's motion to dismiss Trump's lawsuit is still pending, but the case would be closed once the settlement is approved and finalized.

Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter

Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.

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