It was reported last night that CBS News is considering trying to settle their 60 Minutes lawsuit with President-elect Trump, who sued them for trying to help Kamala win the presidency by falsely editing their interview with her to make the terrible Democratic candidate sound better.
But in these talks behind the scenes, it appears that CBS isn’t interested in settling the lawsuit because they were wrong or because they want to protect their lies – which is undoubtedly true. No, they simply want to get on Trump’s good side because they want to protect a planned merger with Skydance Media, a merge that Trump’s FCC will have to approve.
Here’s more from the New York Post:
Paramount Global executives have held internal talks about settling a lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump over CBS News’ interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is hoping to close its planned merger with Skydance Media in the coming months but has been sued by Trump for allegedly favorably editing the “60 Minutes” sit-down with Harris just before the election
In recent months, it has become clear that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News is proving to be a major hurdle, and it will likely need to pony up concessions to win approval, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The Post had previously reported that the deal will likely remain in regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future under Trump-nominated FCC chair Brendan Carr, unless it satisfies certain “fairness” conditions that will be demanded by Trump’s FCC.
The FCC has authority over the deal because it would involve the transfer of broadcast TV licenses held by local CBS-owned stations.
The Journal said there was no indication that Paramount had approached Trump’s team about a settlement, but executives at the company were gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration in order to facilitate the merger.
A rep for Trump did not immediately comment on whether Paramount had contacted the President-elect’s team.
One source told The Post that the talks have been described as “informal,” meaning there have been no presentations or formal plans devised.
Reps for Paramount and Skydance did not comment.
At issue is Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against CBS, which alleges that the network committed election interference by editing portions of the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris to eliminate a “word salad” answer about the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on “60 Minutes” and another version on its show “Face the Nation,” each containing different answers, and demanded the network release the transcript of the taped interview.
CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris’s interview on “60 Minutes” for clarity. It has refused to release a full transcript of the interview.
