Overview
- Clooney told Variety that Bari Weiss is “dismantling CBS News” and argued CBS and ABC should have refused Trump’s defamation suits rather than settle.
- Paramount paid $16 million to resolve Trump’s claim tied to a 60 Minutes interview and Disney’s ABC paid $15 million over an on‑air Stephanopoulos statement, as reported by multiple outlets.
- Weiss answered Clooney with an open invitation to visit the CBS Broadcast Center, noting she is working to relaunch the Evening News on January 5.
- The internal flashpoint remains a 60 Minutes report on deportees sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison that Sharyn Alfonsi said Weiss “spiked,” which Weiss defended as a routine hold until the piece is ready.
- Trump ridiculed Clooney on Truth Social after news of the actor’s French citizenship, and Clooney later quipped that he agreed the U.S. should be made great again starting in November.