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Paramount and Trump Edge Toward Settlement in $20 Billion CBS Lawsuit

Mediation begins as Paramount explores resolving Trump’s claims over a ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris, while legal experts dismiss the case as baseless.

Pedestrians walk by the New York Times building in Manhattan, New York, in December 2022.
WINTER PARK, UNITED STATES - 2019/10/29: CBS News journalist and author Scott Pelley reads from his 2019 book, Truth Worth Telling: A Reporter's Search for Meaning in the Stories of Our Times, during a speaking event at Rollins College. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Then president-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York City, on Jan. 10.

Overview

  • Paramount Global’s board approved financial terms for a potential settlement during an April 18 meeting, clearing the way for mediation to begin on April 30, 2025.
  • President Trump alleges that CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ deceptively edited Kamala Harris’s interview to favor her 2024 presidential campaign, seeking $20 billion in damages.
  • CBS News has maintained the edits were standard practice and denies any wrongdoing, with legal experts widely calling the lawsuit frivolous and unlikely to succeed.
  • Bill Owens, the executive producer of ‘60 Minutes,’ resigned last week, citing corporate interference and a loss of editorial independence amid settlement discussions.
  • The Federal Communications Commission continues its investigation into CBS under the rarely used ‘news distortion’ policy, which could impact Paramount’s pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.