Trump Says David Ellison Is ‘Great, He'll Do a Great Job' Running Merged Skydance-Paramount, as FCC Deal Approval Is Still Pending
President Trump praised David Ellison, CEO of Skydance Media, as 'great' and said that 'he'll do a great job' as head of the merged Skydance-Paramount Global — but his administration has yet to approve the deal.
Speaking with reporters outside the White House Wednesday morning, Trump did not directly answer a question about what is holding up the FCC from granting regulatory approval of the proposed Skydance-Paramount deal, which was reached in July 2024. But the president immediately began discussing his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS over a '60 Minutes' interview with then-VP Kamala Harris.
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Trump filed the lawsuit against CBS just days before the 2024 presidential election, alleging that a '60 Minutes' interview with Harris violated a Texas consumer protection law by misleading voters and causing Trump personal financial harm.
On Wednesday, Trump said that Harris' answer — to a question about the Biden administration's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu — was 'horrendous' and 'election-threatening, it was so incompetent. So they took the entire answer out, and they took another answer to another question and put it in.' Trump asked rhetorically, 'You think they'd do that for me?' The reporter he was speaking with responded, 'I think it happens daily,' to which Trump said, 'Well, I've never seen it. I thought I've seen everything, that I've never seen.'
In March, Paramount filed a motion to dismiss Trump's suit, which the company said is 'an affront to the First Amendment' that is 'without basis in law or fact.' But since then, lawyers for Paramount and Trump have entered into settlement talks. In a filing last Friday, attorneys for both parties said the two sides are 'engaged in active settlement discussions, including continued mediation.' Paramount offered $15 million to settle the lawsuit but that was rejected by Trump's team, which wants at least $25 million as well as an apology from CBS, the Wall Street Journal reported. Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, is said to support the company's attempts to resolve the '60 Minutes' suit through mediation.
If the deal is approved, Ellison would become chairman and CEO of the new 'Paramount Skydance Corp.' The FCC is reviewing the transaction and must approve the transfer of CBS broadcast licenses to the new ownership to finalize the deal.
Trump lawsuit's centers on an exchange in which '60 Minutes' correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris about the Biden administration's relations with Netanyahu, whom Whitaker said 'is not listening' to the White House. CBS News broadcast a longer portion of Harris's response on Oct. 6 on 'Face the Nation,' whereas the edited '60 Minutes' segment broadcast the next day included a shorter excerpt from the same answer. 'Each excerpt reflects the substance of the vice president's answer,' CBS News said in a statement. In response to an FCC request, CBS News released an unedited transcript of the '60 Minutes' interview with Harris that aired Oct. 6, 2024 (available at this link) and said the materials show that 'consistent with 60 Minutes' repeated assurances to the public,' the broadcast 'was not doctored or deceitful.'
In his comments Wednesday, Trump also said that in the wake of his lawsuit, 'the head of '60 Minutes' got fired, the head of CBS [News] got fired, they're all getting fired.' He claimed CBS is 'very embarrassed' by the episode.
On April 22, '60 Minutes' executive producer Bill Owens resigned, saying interference from Paramount execs prevented him from making 'independent decisions based on what was right for '60 Minutes,' right for the audience.' On May 19, CBS News president Wendy McMahon announced her resignation, writing in a memo to staff, 'It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.'
Meanwhile, David Ellison met with Trump at two recent UFC events (on April 12 and June 7), which the Skydance CEO failed to disclose in violation of FCC ex parte rules, according to an FCC filing by tech company LiveVideo.AI (which claims it made 'a superior bid' over Skydance to acquire National Amusements Inc. and Paramount and is opposing the Skydance-Paramount deal). At the June 7 UFC fight, Trump and Ellison engaged in 'a heated exchange which required White House and UFC officials to intervene' before the encounter concluded 'with a firm handshake,' according to the filing, citing video recorded at the event.
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