President Donald Trump
Paramount Global Latest Media Company Looking to Settle Litigation With Trump
January 31, 2025
Paramount Global is reportedly in talks with President Trump’s lawyers to settle a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS’s “60 Minutes” for allegedly “deceptively editing” an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last year ahead of the national election.
Media reports say Shari Redstone, who is the controlling Paramount shareholder, is looking to cut a deal to avoid future conflict with the government regarding company’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
The negotiation follows a trend among media companies looking to minimize conflict with Trump, whose recently appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Brendan Carr, has vowed to scrutinize social media companies and TV network operators that conservatives believe may be politically biased and censoring freedom of speech, among other allegations.
Meta, the corporate parent to Facebook and Instagram, is paying Trump $25 million for alleged damages and legal fees resulting from his banishment from the social media platforms following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot against Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election.
The payout mirrors action taken last December by Disney CEO Bob Iger, who approved a $15 million settlement for president-elect Trump’s defamation case against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos. The latter repeatedly said on-air that Trump was “liable for rape” of former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll — who filed sexual assault case against the president in 2022.
Due to New York’s narrow legal definition of rape, jurors found Trump guilty of sexual abuse — not rape — awarding Carroll $5 million in damages.
Trump has also sued The Des Moines Register for publishing a poll ahead of the November election that suggested Harris would win the state of Iowa by three percentage points; Trump ended up winning Iowa by 13 points.
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