Trump's brutal response to CBS' offer to settle $20 billion 60 Minutes lawsuit
President Donald Trump has rejected a multimillion-dollar offer from CBS News to settle his lawsuit over an allegedly doctored 60 Minutes interview.
Nearly a month into settlement talks over Trump's explosive $20 billion lawsuit against the network, sources confirm that Paramount Global has quietly offered $15 million to make the scandal disappear.
But Trump has blasted the network's proposal as 'not even close,' and is demanding tens of millions more (at least $25 million) together with a formal apology.
The lawsuit, filed last October, accuses CBS, its parent company Paramount and its flagship program 60 Minutes of deceptively editing a high-stakes interview with then–Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris just weeks before the 2024 election.
Trump alleges the footage was manipulated to 'tip the scales' in Harris's favor and irreparably damage his image with voters.
CBS denies the claim and said the broadcast was 'not doctored or deceitful.' It has called the allegations 'completely without merit.'
But the legal and political aftershocks are now threatening to derail a much bigger deal: Paramount's $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which is currently under review by Trump's Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The rejection of the settlement offer from CBS comes as Trump threatens to block billions in federal approvals for Paramount's merger with Skydance Media and insiders say the president is nowhere near backing down.
The footage at the heart of the lawsuit was aired on 60 Minutes in October 2024, and featured CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker interviewing Harris in a prime-time election special.
Trump's lawsuit claims CBS selectively removed a series of stammering, confused answers from Harris on topics including the Israel–Hamas war, replacing them with cleaner responses from a different part of the interview.
Legal analysts note that the First Amendment gives CBS broad protections, and say the lawsuit likely wouldn't survive in court.
But the fear of retaliation from a sitting president - and one who's threatened to revoke broadcast licenses and jail journalists - has changed just how much risk CBS/Paramount are prepared to bear.
The lawsuit has now ballooned into one of the largest defamation-related claims ever filed against a media company.
CBS is facing a $20 billion damage claim, a federal probe by the FCC into potential 'news distortion,' and a growing internal revolt as journalists accuse Paramount of trying to appease Trump to save the merger.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Paramount floated a $15 million offer to Trump's legal team, citing similar settlements in other media-related suits.
But Trump's recent victories against other media companies have emboldened him to push CBS harder and demand much more.
He not only wants a significantly larger financial payout, but also a formal public apology from CBS News.
Trump has already won multi-million dollar settlements from other media companies, including Meta, which paid him $25 million in January, ABC News, which agreed to a $15 million settlement in December and X, which paid $10 million in February.
'This was not just a bad edit,' one source close to the Trump team said. 'It was election interference. You don't settle that quietly.'
Paramount, under the leadership of chairwoman Shari Redstone, has entered mediation to try to resolve the conflict.
Redstone, 71, is said to be personally involved in weighing whether to settle quickly even as legal experts warn that any payout could be seen as a 'bribe' to fast-track FCC approval of the Skydance deal.
'If settling Trump's demands looks like a payoff, Paramount could be opening the door to criminal liability and shareholder lawsuits,' one media attorney told The New York Post. 'This is legally radioactive.'
The legal saga has already claimed major casualties inside CBS.
Wendy McMahon, CEO of CBS News, announced her abrupt resignation earlier this month, citing 'differing views on the path forward.'
In a memo to staff, she wrote, 'It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It's time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.'
Before her departure, Bill Owens, longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes, also stepped down, citing concerns over 'editorial independence.'
And during a broadcast, anchor Scott Pelley stunned viewers by saying on air that 'Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways,' suggesting interference from corporate leadership.
These resignations have deepened fears among CBS journalists that Redstone and the Paramount board are sacrificing the newsroom's integrity to preserve a corporate merger.
Shari Redstone, the heiress of CBS parent Paramount Global, has sought to settle the ongoing suit while pursuing a massive media merger with Skydance
Sources now say Redstone is prepared to offer up to $50 million to settle the lawsuit and move on with her life, possibly walking away with $2 billion if the Skydance sale is completed.
Award-winning television newsmagazine broadcast 60 Minutes, which pulls around 10 million viewers weekly, is a leading target of Trump's offensive against the media.
The program has continued to air investigations critical of the Trump administration since his return to the White House.
In response, Trump has called for its cancellation, while his billionaire advisor Elon Musk has said he hoped the team behind 60 Minutes would receive long prison sentences.
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