Media

Paramount Settles Trump's $20 Billion Lawsuit for $16 Million Over CBS Edit

JUL 2 2025·Updated JUL 4 2025

Story

Above: Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Palace Hotel on April 30, 2025 in California. Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Facts

Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle U.S. President Donald Trump's $20 billion lawsuit over CBS's editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October 2024, with the money going to Trump's future presidential library.
Fortune
The Daily Beast
The lawsuit alleged that CBS deceptively edited Harris's response about Israel's war in Gaza, showing different portions of her answer in a Face the Nation preview versus the primetime 60 Minutes broadcast. Trump claimed the edit constituted election interference.
FOX News
Guardian
BBC News
The settlement requires CBS to release full transcripts of future presidential candidate interviews after they air, subject to legal and national security redactions, in what sources are calling the "Trump Rule" for editorial standards.
New York Post
The Daily Beast
The agreement does not include an apology from Paramount or CBS, despite Trump's legal team initially demanding one during months-long settlement negotiations that began in April through mediation.
NBC
Breitbart
CBS News President Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens both resigned in recent weeks after opposing the settlement, with prominent correspondents like Scott Pelley and Lesley Stahl also objecting to any payment.
FOX News
The New York Times
The settlement comes as Paramount seeks approval for its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media from Trump's administration, leading to concerns from Democratic senators that the payment could be perceived as a bribe to secure regulatory approval.
Guardian
Breitbart
The Hill

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

By disguising Harris’s incoherent meanderings with a neat, made‑for‑prime‑time rewrite, CBS’s once‑venerable “60 Minutes” traded journalistic duty for partisan spin. Paramount’s settlement only spotlights the deception: a network that quietly doctored campaign coverage and then stonewalled transparency, rigging narrative and betraying viewers while calling it “routine editing.”

Washingtontimes

Breitbart

Anti-Trump narrative

Despite Paramount’s impulse to buy peace, CBS’s “60 Minutes” owes Trump neither a dime nor an apology. The broadcast followed routine, transparent editing, evidenced by the transcript released by the FCC. Trump’s $20 billion tantrum distracts from the fact he dodged the interview. CBS stood firm, practicing tough, equal‑opportunity journalism while the former president spun demonstrable lies.