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ABC News
41 minutes ago
- ABC News
Paramount settles legal battle with Donald Trump over Kamala Harris interview
US media group Paramount will pay Donald Trump $US16 million (more than $24 million) after agreeing to settle a lawsuit over an interview with former presidential rival Kamala Harris. Mr Trump filed the suit, alleging the network deceptively edited the interview with Ms Harris, which aired on its 60 Minutes news program on CBS in October, in an effort to "tip the scales in favour of the Democratic Party" in the November election. CBS, owned by parent company Paramount, aired two versions of the Harris interview in which she appears to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war. However the network and some groups have said it is normal editing common in television interviews. CBS previously said the lawsuit was "completely without merit" and asked a judge to dismiss the case. In a statement, Paramount said the million-dollar settlement would allocated to Mr Trump's future presidential library. The settlement comes as Paramount seeks approval from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its $US8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media. Democrat Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has called for a bribery investigation. "With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration's approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight," she said. "Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so I'm calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws were broken." On the campaign trail last year, and as president, Mr Trump has called for CBS's broadcasting licences to be revoked. The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year licences to individual broadcast stations, not networks. FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, said the settlement over an entirely "meritless" lawsuit was a "desperate" move by Paramount that "casts a long shadow over the integrity of the transaction pending before the FCC" and "marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment". Senator Bernie Sanders said: "Paramount's decision will only embolden Trump to continue attacking, suing and intimidating the media which he has labelled 'the enemy of the people'." Mr Trump's legal team welcomed the settlement on Wednesday. "With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people," a spokesperson said. Paramount shares fell 1.2 per cent on Wednesday. The company said it also agreed 60 Minutes would release transcripts of interviews with future US presidential candidates after they aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns. At Paramount's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday, co-CEO George Cheeks said the company chose to settle the suit to avoid the "somewhat unpredictable cost" of mounting a legal defence and the risk of an adverse judgement that could result in "significant financial as well as reputational damage", as well as the disruption of an ongoing legal battle. The case entered mediation in April after Mr Trump bumped his claim for damages to $US20 billion in Feburary. ABC with wires
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
US dollar suffers worst start to a year since 1973 over Trump tariff concerns
The US dollar suffered its worst first-half decline in more than 50 years as fears over President Donald Trump's tariff policies have driven down the world's principal reserve currency. The greenback weakened 10.7 per cent in the first six months of the year compared to a basket of currencies from major trading partners – the worst drop since 1973 when President Richard Nixon stopped tying the dollar to the price of gold. But its decline could be part of Mr Trump's broader vision to devalue the dollar — an idea reportedly floated by Stephen Miran, recently appointed Chairman of the US Council of Economic Advisers in what has been dubbed the Mar-a-Lago Accord. Miran has denied this conspiracy in the past. A weaker dollar makes US exports much cheaper, and could aid Mr Trump's oft-stated goal of boosting manufacturing at home, as well as reducing the nation's trade deficit, the thinking goes. When he was campaigning for a second term, an official in the first Trump administration told Politico that 'currency revaluation is likely to be a priority' because of 'the viewpoint that [an overvalued dollar] contributes to the trade deficit.' Trump has not weighed in on the speculation about devaluing the dollar. 'President Trump has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the dominance of the dollar as the world's reserve currency,' White House press spokesman Kush Desai told The Post on Tuesday. 'Ten-year Treasury yields rallying down nearly 40 basis points since Inauguration Day, four consecutive expectation-beating inflation reports, and the trillions in historic investment commitments that have poured into the United States since Election Day are all indicative of the confidence that investors and markets continue to have in our economy and currency.' But many experts claim Mr Trump's hefty tariffs are putting pressure on the dollar and forcing global investors to rethink their ties to the currency. 'Trump is definitely playing with fire,' Stephen Miller, a consultant for GSFM, a unit of Canada's CI Financial Corp. in Australia, told Bloomberg. While a weaker dollar should theoretically help US exporters, there's still a lot of uncertainty when it comes to global trade because of the Trump administration's ongoing negotiations with key nations, which are staring down a fast-approaching July 9 deadline. The dollar's fall comes after it soared on Mr Trump's re-election win and peaked in mid-January on hopes he would bring a pro-growth mindset to the White House. But in April, Mr Trump's 'Liberation Day' announcement revealed tariffs that were much stiffer than analysts and economists had predicted, spurring a broad shift away from US investments. 'Full-scale de-dollarisation, if it ever comes, is still a long way away,' Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, said in the company's most recent forecast. But the drop in confidence in the US dollar, which is typically seen as a safe haven asset, is concerning – and could worsen with a rise in government debt, according to Rieder. Mr Trump's massive budget bill, which is projected to add $3 trillion in national debt, narrowly squeaked through the Senate on Tuesday. It awaits final approval in the House. The concerns over higher inflation and debt have pushed long-term Treasury yields lower. The 10-year yield started near 5 per cent this year and has steadily fallen, reaching 4.267 per cent on Tuesday. 'I think we're going to continue to have this higher pressure on the low end of the yield curve because we haven't really dealt anything away with the deficit or inflation for that matter. In fact, there's more risk now than anything,' Ben Emons, founder of FedWatch Advisors, said on CNBC's 'Fast Money' Tuesday. 'I do think it's related to Treasuries, that if Treasuries get more under pressure, the dollar will get weaker.'
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Has the US busted Iran's nuclear bomb plans?
The chaotic 12 days of the Israel-Iran war ended with the United States dropping bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities, then quickly brokering a ceasefire. But there are still many questions about the conflict: Has Iran really been mere months away from building a bomb for the last fifteen years, as Israel claims? Did the US's strikes bust all plans for an Iranian nuke? And what does an American bowling alley company have to do with Tehran's nuclear program? That's this week on If You're Listening. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app. Check out our series on YouTube:
