Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle '60 Minutes' Lawsuit [View all]
Source: New York Times
Paramount to Pay Trump $16 Million to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit
President Trump had sued over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The company needs federal approval for a multibillion-dollar sale.
President Trump sued Paramount for $10 billion last year, claiming that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in order to interfere with the election. Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
By Benjamin MullinMichael M. GrynbaumLauren Hirsch and David Enrich
July 2, 2025
Updated 1:34 a.m. ET
Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization. … Paramount said its payment includes Mr. Trump’s legal fees and costs and that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Mr. Trump’s future presidential library.
As part of the settlement, Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future “60 Minutes” interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology. … The deal is the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the media industry.
{snip}
The size of the settlement, $16 million, is the same sum that ABC News agreed to pay in December to settle a defamation case filed by Mr. Trump against the network and one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. Paramount’s board was concerned that paying a higher amount to settle the case could increase the company’s exposure to potential legal actions from shareholders accusing them of bribery.
The sale of Paramount would end the Redstone family’s decades-long control of CBS News and Paramount Pictures and put it in the hands of David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, a tech billionaire who has backed Mr. Trump.
{snip}
Tyler Pager contributed reporting.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at benjamin.mullin@nytimes.com.
Michael M. Grynbaum is a media correspondent at The Times. He is the author of "Empire of the Elite," a cultural history of Condé Nast magazines.
Lauren Hirsch is a Times reporter who covers deals and dealmakers in Wall Street and Washington.
David Enrich is a deputy investigations editor for The Times. He writes about law and business.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/business/media/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit.html
= new reply since forum marked as read