Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump over an edited CBS “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election cycle.
The company, which owns CBS, announced the deal early Wednesday, before a shareholders’ meeting, and made clear that the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library, not to the president himself.
The lawsuit alleges that “60 Minutes” deceitfully edited an exchange during an October 7 interview between Harris and correspondent Bill Whitaker. Harris was asked about the Israel-Hamas War and why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t “listening” to the Biden administration.
The then-presidential candidate gave an answer that was widely mocked as “word salad” when the clip aired on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” however, when the actual full-interview special aired on the network, Harris’ answer on the subject was different, clearer, and more concise.
Paramount agrees to pay $16 million to Trump over the edited 60 Minutes Kamala interview!
The leftist media are paying for what was one of the most blatant acts of election interference to date!pic.twitter.com/U8cS0rtPPr
— MRCTV (@mrctv) July 2, 2025
The FCC released raw footage and a transcript of the interview. It revealed that the network released the first half of Harris’s answer on “Face The Nation” and the second half of her answer during the prime time special.
Trump accused the network of election interference leading up to Election Day and sought $20 billion in his lawsuit.
CBS denied any wrongdoing and does not claim any journalistic wrongdoing by agreeing to settle.
“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” Paramount said in a statement adding that the case was “completely without merit” and tried to have it dismissed.
The proposed $16 million will cover legal fees, court costs, and contributions to charities and a future presidential library, but sources close to the president say the final tab could be closer to $30 million, Fox News reports.
CBS has also updated its editorial standards by adopting a new rule that requires the network to quickly release full, unedited transcripts of future presidential candidates’ interviews.
“With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit. CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle. President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said.
Paramount has been working for months to close a lucrative deal with Skydance Media that requires approval from the Trump administration because several local stations owned by CBS are licensed by the government.
The Writers Guild of America East, which represents writers at “60 Minutes” and other news divisions, claims the Trump administration may have put pressure on Paramount to settle in the lawsuit.
However, Paramount has argued that “this lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process. We will abide by the legal process to defend our case.”
Podcaster Stephen Miller weighed in on the settlement writing on X, “The fact that major national media networks keep settling lawsuits before discovery can happen should be a huge giant tell about what’s going on with their industry.”
In 2024, conservative talk radio host and blogger Eric Erickson predicted that Paramount would likely settle the case.
“Unlike some of the journalists commenting, I not only practiced law, but represented a newspaper and television station, working under a very skilled partner who did First Amendment law. No, a $15 million settlement is not the cost of doing business. It is avoiding discovery,” he wrote on X.
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