By Shubhangi Chowdhury
Media giant Paramount, the parent of CBS, has agreed to settle the lawsuit through monetary concessions. The company will pay $16 million to resolve a legal dispute with President Donald Trump over an interview it aired on CBS featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Paramount said it will pay to settle the lawsuit, but the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library but not to him “directly or indirectly.” The company statement further elaborated that, “The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret.”
Previously in October, Trump had filed a lawsuit claiming the network unfairly edited an interview with his election rival Harris on its “60 Minutes” program to favor the Democratic party. Trump claimed that CBS’s editing of the interview broke the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, a law that bans false, misleading, or deceptive practices in commerce sector.
READ: Musk owned-X settles lawsuit with Trump over Jan. 6 suspension (February 13, 2025)
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, said CBS aired two versions of the same interview where Harris seemed to give different answers to a question about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The interviewer, Bill Whitaker, had asked her about the Biden administration’s relationship with Israel. One version of the interview aired on “Face the Nation” and the other on “60 Minutes.” Trump alleged that Harris’ “word salad” was edited in one of the broadcasts to protect her from public criticism.
However, Paramount-owned CBS had denied this allegation, called out the case “completely without merit” and had asked a judge to dismiss it. CBS stated that the Harris’ response was edited for time upon following the television news standards.
Trump initially sued for $10 billion but that figure was later increased to $20 billion for damages. In May, the company offered $15 million to settle the suit but Trump wanted more than $25 million. In a statement released on Tuesday, Paramount confirmed the settlement fee included the president’s legal fees, and that it had agreed that “60 Minutes” will release transcripts of interviews with future presidential candidates.
READ: Trump lawyers propose to settle his CBS, 60 Minutes lawsuit for $20 million (June 26, 2025)
Paramount settles this dispute ahead of its merger with Skydance Media, which requires approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. The merger deal is worth of $8.4 billion.
Meanwhile, reports say that some top CBS News executives, including CEO Wendy McMahon, have stepped down because they didn’t want to apologize to Trump.
There were also concerns that settling the lawsuit with a payment might look like a bribe to a public official. Media groups pointed out that Trump’s unusual use of consumer protection laws against the media might be an attempt to get around press protections. Normally, news outlets can only be held responsible for defamation if they knowingly publish something false about a public figure.
This latest settlement by Paramount comes after a similar move made by Walt Disney-owned ABC News to settle a defamation case brought by Trump. As part of that settlement, which was made public on December 14, 2024, the network donated $15 million to Trump’s presidential library and publicly apologized for comments by anchor George Stephanopoulos, who inaccurately said Trump had been found liable for rape.