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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Wants $25 Million To Settle His Meritless 60 Minutes Lawsuit (opinion)
President Donald Trump is currently suing one of the largest media companies in the country because one of its subsidiaries lightly edited an interview with his political opponent. This week, he apparently declined a settlement offer, even though the lawsuit itself is completely frivolous and arguably an abuse of his power as president. "Paramount Global in recent days has offered $15 million to settle," The Wall Street Journal reported this week. "Trump's team wants more than $25 million and is also seeking an apology from CBS News." The whole affair stems from an October 2024 interview that 60 Minutes conducted with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president. (Trump declined the chance to sit for a 60 Minutes interview of his own.) In the interview, correspondent Bill Whitaker asked about Israel's war in Gaza. CBS—the broadcast network owned by Paramount—aired separate portions of Harris' answer, one on the 60 Minutes broadcast and a longer snippet on its Sunday morning show Face the Nation. Trump seized on the different clips and accused CBS of doctoring Harris' answer to make her look better. "Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer," he wrote on X. "They took the answer out in its entirety, threw it away, and they put another answer in," he later said at a campaign rally. "And I think it's the biggest scandal in broadcasting history." Trump sued CBS for $10 billion in "compensatory damages"—amended to $20 billion after he won the election and reassumed the presidency—under a Texas law against deceptive consumer practices. The lawsuit accused CBS of "unlawful acts of election and voter interference." The lawsuit was flawed from the start: Journalists editing interviewees' answers for time or clarity is both routine and protected by the First Amendment. And Harris' answer in either clip is not exactly Churchillian: "Harris did not come across as especially forthright, articulate, or intelligent in either version, although the one that 60 Minutes showed was a little more concise," Reason's Jacob Sullum observed. If CBS were trying to do her a favor by swapping out her answer, one imagines they could have done a better job. Besides, Trump won the election; it's hard to believe he suffered any damages, much less millions of dollars worth. But in a filing this week, Trump's lawyers argued the interview "led to widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including [Trump]." CBS released the full unedited video and transcript of Whitaker's interview with Harris in February, conclusively demonstrating the scandal was bullshit all along: CBS aired one part of Harris' response on 60 Minutes and another part on Face the Nation. Despite Trump's insistence, nobody "replaced" any part of her answer with another, separate answer. But instead of defending its journalists by pressing on and letting a judge laugh the lawsuit out of court, Paramount has been negotiating a settlement. CBS News staffers opposed a settlement, fearing the precedent of a journalistic outlet caving to pressure from the powerful interests it covers. Since negotiations began last month, the producer of 60 Minutes and the executive in charge of CBS News each resigned. But Paramount is in the process of being acquired by Skydance Media, and the transaction requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Around the same time as Trump's lawsuit, the Center for American Rights, a conservative nonprofit, also filed an FCC complaint for "news distortion" over the interview. And FCC Chair Brendan Carr, whom Trump elevated to the job and who has demonstrated unabashed loyalty to the president, has indicated that approval depends upon the resolution of the complaint, which he is in no hurry to get through. "It would be entirely inappropriate to consider the complaint against the '60 Minutes' segment as part of a transaction review," FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told the Los Angeles Times. Indeed, the lawsuit—especially when paired with the FCC merger approval—smacks of corruption, with Trump trying to cow a disfavored media outlet into silence. Trump's effort is so blatant that Paramount executives reportedly worried they could be prosecuted for bribery of a public official if they settled the lawsuit. Of course, this puts Paramount, CBS, and 60 Minutes in a perilous position: If Paramount—which has been struggling for years—hopes to save itself through a merger with Skydance, it must win over the FCC, whose current head apparently delights in being referred to as "Trump's media pit bull." Doing so will apparently require bending the knee and paying a fee for hurting Trump's feelings, even though by all accounts, 60 Minutes violated neither the law nor journalistic ethics. And if Paramount does cave and pay $25 million or more—worse still, if it apologizes for the sin of doing basic journalism—it will set a dangerous precedent that powerful people can openly and unabashedly bully the journalists who cover them into silence. The post Trump Wants $25 Million To Settle His Meritless 60 Minutes Lawsuit appeared first on
Politico
3 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
A Kamalaless confab in the shadows of Disneyland
Presented by California Environmental Voters DEM DERBY — California Democrats will gather in Anaheim this weekend to hold their largest meeting since native daughter Kamala Harris faceplanted in the presidential race and Donald Trump returned to besieging them from Washington. Harris' decision of whether to run for governor or president for a third time will hang over the 4,000 party faithful in attendance — but she's not expected to be among them. Only a vestige of her failed run, ex-running mate Tim Walz, is scheduled to be in the building. He'll rally the troops Saturday but is unlikely to have time for a ride on the tea cups at nearby Disneyland, as he's also headlining the South Carolina Democratic Party Convention on the same day. Let's hope Harris' would-be competitors in the governor's race aren't fiending for a Mickey-shaped pretzel, because they'll be busy stumping as if delegates aren't waiting to see if the former vice president gets in the race. Other would-be 2028 contenders will be around. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is slated to speak, ideally for fewer than the 25 hours he recently spent filibustering on the Senate floor. And Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach is scheduled to take a break from his House Oversight bid to party with Planned Parenthood Friday night (DJ not yet announced). The party won't vote on endorsements this weekend, but candidates down the ballot in the lieutenant governor's and treasurer's race are descending on the city to promote their runs. Math problem: This initial phase of the endorsement fight will be especially critical for the governor's field — particularly if Harris doesn't get in — and the race remains as crowded. Candidates would need more than a majority of delegates to back them to get the party nod, though California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks did not rule that out in an interview. 'They may or may not get 60 percent,' Hicks said. 'You know, in 2018 many folks didn't think that Gavin Newsom would get the endorsement.' The Kamala in the room: Hicks went to great lengths to praise his party's 'deep bench,' rattling off candidates in the field, but agreed Harris will be on attendees' minds. 'A former Attorney General, Senator, Vice President, and presidential candidate from California is certainly going to loom large, especially when everyone has had some interaction with her, has probably worked, certainly worked hard for her, and worked hard for her recently,' Hicks said. 'The decision is for her to make in the coming weeks and months.' GOOD MORNING. Happy Friday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as 'CA Playbook' in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@ and bjones@ or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced. CAMPAIGN YEAR(S) FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: A Democratic candidate to succeed Assemblymember Mike Gipson is excavating one of her opponent's left-leaning tweets on policing and oil in a bid to erode the challenger's labor bona fides and consolidate union support. Compton school board member Ayanna Davis' campaign has launched a website chock full of social media posts from progressive candidate Fatima Iqbal-Zubair in which Iqbal-Zubair expressed support for the Defund the Police movement in the wake of George Floyd's murder and called for divestment from oil companies. The campaign is also planning to blast out a memo full of opposition research to convention-going party delegates in the Assembly district in play this morning. 'Ban police associations. End qualified immunity. Prosecute cops,' Iqbal-Zubair wrote in a 2021 post featured on the site. The open race for Assembly District 65 is already shaping up to be a tough Dem-on-Dem contest. Davis and Iqbal-Zubair — the chair of the state party's progressive caucus and a legislative affairs staffer for California Environmental Voters who has challenged Gipson in the past — are also joined in the race by another Democrat, Myla Rahman, the district director for state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. Gipson is term-limited and running for the California Board of Equalization next year. Labor support was key for Gipson in locking down the seat in the past and could be critical in the heavily Democratic district again this cycle. Iqbal-Zubair in an interview said her values haven't changed but that 'it's important to preserve all union jobs in my district, that includes the jobs in the refineries at the ports.' 'Policing and prisons: There's union members in there that have good jobs,' she elaborated. Iqbal-Zubair bemoaned environmental pollution and police violence disproportionately affecting people of color in her Los Angeles-area district. She cast clean energy jobs as an opportunity to maintain union ranks while offsetting the effects of climate change. And she called for more social service workers to work in the criminal justice system. 'The whole underpinning of my campaign is undoing the systemic harms in the district,' Iqbal-Zubair told Playbook. 'Public safety is a huge part of that, obviously, because, if you ask community members in my district, they haven't had systems that have helped them feel safe.' TRADE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC — State Attorney General Rob Bonta joined Democratic officials across the country who took a victory lap after a pair of federal court rulings struck down Trump's tariffs. But, the AG cautioned, economic turmoil over Trump's see-sawing tariffs is likely not over. 'He's pretty stubborn, he wants to do it how he wants and when he wants,' Bonta told Playbook. 'He's clearly, in our view, far overstepped his legal authority.' The Trump administration is appealing the decisions, which found the president unlawfully invoked emergency economic powers to unilaterally enact tariffs on dozens of countries without congressional approval. A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated Trump's sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs while litigation plays out. California, led by Bonta and Newsom, was the first state to sue over Trump's taxes on imports. The state is still challenging his actions in a separate but related lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. 'These are our own arguments… included in court orders,' Bonta said of the two rulings. 'That's validating. Of course, we're interested in durable, permanent results.' SAN FRANCISCO PELOSI MANS UP — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week endorsed a San Francisco county party resolution urging Democrats to pay more attention to the well-being of men and boys — siding with moderate leaders who've sought to force Democrats to confront criticisms that the party isn't male friendly. Pelosi backed the measure at the SF Democratic County Central Committee's monthly meeting, albeit after a minor friendly amendment. Gary McCoy, Pelosi's proxy representative to the county party, said she shares the sentiment that Democrats 'need to do more' to reach out to men and boys and listen to their issues. Party leaders overwhelmingly approved the resolution. Emma Hare, a local Democratic county vice chair who wrote the resolution, said it's designed to spark an intraparty conversation about how to win back male voters who have flocked to Trump, including through efforts like universal paid parental leave for fathers, apprenticeship job programs and more behavioral health resources targeted at men. CLIMATE AND ENERGY EMISSIONS DISCOUNT — The state's latest quarterly sale of pollution permits to high-emitting companies went worse than it ever has since the pandemic, leaving the state with a third less revenue from the program this fiscal year than last. Read last night's California Climate for more on how questions around the future of California's signature cap-and-trade program are becoming budget problems. Top Talkers YER FIRED— Floyd Brown said on X today that he was fired yesterday by Richard Grenell, the presidential envoy for special missions, from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts one month after being recruited to be the center's vice president, POLITICO's Cheyenne Daniels reports. He theorizes that his firing may have had something to do with an inquiry from CNN, where they asked him about his 'past writings and statements about traditional marriage and homosexual influence in the @GOP.' 'The only explanation is the one given to me at the time of my firing,' he wrote ''Floyd, you must recant your belief in traditional marriage and your past statements on the topic, or you will be fired.' Needless to say, I refused to recant and was shown the door. My beliefs are much more common to Biblical Christianity.' APUSH LESSON— California Rep. Judy Chu says President Donald Trump's decision to revoke Chinese students' visas is 'xenophobic,' the Los Angeles Times reports. 'This is yet another example of the Trump administration targeting Chinese people instead of the Chinese government, assuming that every Chinese person is a pawn for the Chinese Communist Party,' Chu said. 'That is what xenophobia is all about, and it is reminiscent of the Chinese Exclusion Act.' AROUND THE STATE — San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wants to cut about 1,400 city jobs as the city confronts a roughly $800 million budget deficit. (San Francisco Chronicle) — Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho wants to establish a registry for people convicted of fentanyl murders. (The Sacramento Bee) — Twelve people who were charged with crimes at a pro-Palestinian protest at Stanford's executive offices were arraigned in Santa Clara County. (The Mercury News) PLAYBOOKERS PEOPLE MOVES — John Goodwin was named vice president of global brand at Back Market. He was most recently at Ogilvy, Razorfish, Klaviyo and Patagonia. — Josué Estrada has just been named chief operating officer at the Center for AI Safety. He's a former COO at both Salesforce and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, now stepping into the AI safety space to help scale research and impact. — Stacey Geis, former deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has joined Crowell & Moring's environment, energy and natural resources and white collar and regulatory enforcement groups as senior counsel in its San Francisco office. — Chris Shimoda joined the Supply Chain Federation as strategic policy adviser. He will continue to operate his firm Shimoda Government Strategies which he opened in April 2025. BIRTHDAYS — POLITICO's Maggie Miller … songstress Idina Menzel … rapper Remy Ma BELATED B-DAY WISHES — Tami Grossglauser in the office of Assemblymember Rick Zbur You may have noticed that the lead-in to California Playbook, 'The Buzz,' has disappeared from your screen. After many years, we've decided it was time to retire it. We woke up today feeling a little lighter for it. Onward. WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO's California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Demands ‘Major' Investigation Into Beyoncé and Springsteen Appearances in Late-Night Rant
President Donald Trump escalated his feud against Bruce Springsteen in a late-night, all-caps rant calling for an investigation into the legendary rocker's performance at a Kamala Harris campaign rally. Springsteen kicked off his 'Land of Hope & Dreams' tour by saying the U.S. was in the hands of a 'corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration,' leading the president to fire back that Springsteen was a 'dried out prune of a rocker [who] ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT.' After the Boss responded at his show Saturday by calling Trump an 'unfit president' whose administration was 'persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent,' Trump once again used social media to accuse Springsteen—along with Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, and Bono—of making 'illegal' contributions to Harris' unsuccessful campaign. 'HOW MUCH DID KAMALA HARRIS PAY BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN FOR HIS POOR PERFORMANCE DURING HER CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT?' Trump wrote. 'WHY DID HE ACCEPT THAT MONEY IF HE IS SUCH A FAN OF HERS? ISN'T THAT A MAJOR AND ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? WHAT ABOUT BEYONCÉ? …AND HOW MUCH WENT TO OPRAH, AND BONO??? I am going to call for a major investigation into this matter.' The Democrats, however, already beat him to it, as Harris' campaign spending came under scrutiny after the campaign raised more than $1 billion but still lost every single battleground state during the election. That led some Democratic strategists to question expenditures including a $1 million town hall with Oprah Winfrey, and swing-state rallies featuring star performers such as Lady Gaga, Jon Bon Jovi, and Katy Perry, The New York Times reported. Springsteen performed at a Harris/Walz rally in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, while Beyoncé spoke at a Houston rally on Oct. 25. It's not clear what Bono has to do with the Harris campaign, though he did blast the president's foreign aid policy over the weekend at the launch of his Apple+ documentary, The Irish Star reported. Adrienne Elrod, who served as a senior adviser and senior spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Deadline that the campaign did not pay for celebrity support. 'We have never paid any artist and performer,' she said. The campaign, however, was required by law to pay the ancillary costs of the performances, she said. Expenses such as sound, lighting, and support staff must be reimbursed, since companies are not allowed to give cash or in-kind donations to candidates, USA Today reported. Harris' expenditure filings appear to show the campaign paid Springsteen's production company Thrill Hill Productions about $75,000 on Nov. 19 for 'travel and event production.' The Daily Beast has contacted Springsteen's and Harris' reps for comment. Winfrey has previously said she was not 'paid a dime' for the town hall she hosted, Deadline and other outlets reported. Instead, the campaign paid her company, Harpo Productions, to provide sets, lights, cameras, microphones, crew, producers, and even the chairs used during the live event. 'I did not take any personal fee,' Winfrey wrote. 'However the people who worked on that production needed to be paid. And were. End of story.' The campaign also paid Beyoncé's production company $165,000 about a month after the singer spoke at a Harris rally in Houston, according to USA Today. Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, denied a claim going around in November that her daughter had been paid $10 million to appear alongside Harris. 'Beyoncé did not receive a penny for speaking at a presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris's Rally in Houston. In fact she actually paid for her own flights for her and her team, and total Glam,' Knowles wrote in an Instagram post. Trump nevertheless repeated the rumor in a follow-up Truth Social post on Monday. 'According to news reports, Beyoncé was paid $11,000,000 to walk onto a stage, quickly ENDORSE KAMALA, and walk off to loud booing for never having performed, NOT EVEN ONE SONG!' he wrote. 'Remember, the Democrats and Kamala illegally paid her millions of Dollars for doing nothing other than giving Kamala a full throated ENDORSEMENT. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL ELECTION SCAM AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL! IT IS AN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION! BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OPRAH, BONO AND, PERHAPS, MANY OTHERS, HAVE A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO!!!'
Sky News AU
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Motherf***er': Kamala Harris blasted CNN host following tense interview, new book reveals
Former vice US president Kamala Harris reportedly called CNN host Anderson Cooper a 'motherf***er' following an interview. Harris' fiery comment about the CNN anchor came in an interview following former US president Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance. The claims about the former vice president's alleged comments were revealed in a new book penned by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again'. During Harris' interview with Cooper, the CNN host grilled the then-vice president about Biden's cognitive ability immediately after the June debate. Immediately following Biden's debate against Donald Trump, the Democratic Party went into panic mode, leading the then-president to drop out of the race. 'This motherf***er doesn't treat me like the damn vice president of the United States, she said to colleagues. I thought we were better than that,' Harris said.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Unleashes Deranged Attack on ‘60 Minutes' as Bosses Prepare to Pay Him Off
President Donald Trump aired his furious grievances against 60 Minutes and CBS News on Wednesday, claiming he had a 'WINNER' of a case in his $20 billion lawsuit over the show's interview with Kamala Harris. In a lengthy, rambling Truth Social screed, the president claimed once again that the show 'cheated and defrauded the American People' after it aired a different part of Harris' answer to a question over the war in Gaza. He also falsely claimed that 60 Minutes, CBS, and parent company Paramount Global admitted to the 'crime' of airing a different portion of the answer to the question. 'In other words, 60 Minutes perpetrated a Giant FRAUD against the American People, the Federal Elections Commission, and the Federal Communications System,' the president wrote. CBS did not respond to an immediate request for comment. The post came as lawyers for Trump and Paramount were set to begin mediation on Wednesday in Trump's $20 billion defamation lawsuit, according to The New York Times, a process Paramount hopes will clear the way for its upcoming merger with David Ellison's Skydance. Paramount's board approved financial terms for a potential settlement during an April 18 meeting, according to the Times. Trump accused the show of 'news distortion' in October after 60 Minutes previewed Harris' interview with correspondent Bill Whitaker during Face the Nation with a clip of Harris' winding answer on the U.S.' relationship with Israel. But the next day, during a special Monday edition of 60 Minutes that Trump refused to participate in, a more streamlined version of Harris' answer aired. Trump later filed a $10 billion federal lawsuit in Texas, amending it to $20 billion earlier this year. Federal Communications Chairman and Trump acolyte Brendan Carr has also opened an investigation into CBS over the episode and has linked the case with the FCC's review of the Paramount-Skydance merger. Trump has claimed his lawsuit and the merger are not related. CBS has denied Trump's claims, saying it acted within journalistic guidelines, and has continued to fight the lawsuit in court. In response to the FCC's investigation, the network released the unedited interview with Harris earlier this year that featured both portions of Harris' Israel answer. Paramount's chairwoman and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone has aggressively pursued a settlement in order to secure the deal, according to the Times, one that will grant her a $2.4 billion payout for her stake in National Amusements, which controls Paramount and its assets. She has also demanded a review of 60 Minutes segments critical of Trump. The desire for a settlement has has put her at odds with 60 Minutes' staff and its executive producer Bill Owens, who said he would not apologize as part of a settlement. Owens resigned last week after said it became apparent that, as he put it, 'I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for '60 Minutes,' right for the audience.' The Times also caught a stray attack after Trump complained that the paper's inclusion of legal experts who called the lawsuit 'baseless' made it 'liable for tortious interference.' He suggested his lawyers are 'intently studying' whether to sue the paper. 'Nothing like this, the illegal creation of an answer for a Presidential Candidate, has ever been done before, they have to pay a price for it, and the Times should also be on the hook for their likely unlawful behavior,' he wrote. A Times spokesperson said Trump's post 'follows a long list of legal threats aimed at discouraging or penalizing independent reporting about the administration.' 'The New York Times will not be deterred by the administration's intimidation tactics,' the spokesperson wrote. 'We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists' First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.' The attack comes as Trump and his administration have waged and won wars against various media outlets, ranging from ABC's $16 million settlement over a George Stephanopoulos interview to the FCC's various investigations into Trump enemies such as ABC and NBC.
