Paramount Board Worried That CBS Paying Too Much to Trump Risked Shareholder Lawsuits Claiming 'Bribery': NYT

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MEDIAite

Jul 2nd, 2025, 6:31 pm


The decision by Paramount Global, CBS’ parent company, to settle the lawsuit President Donald Trump filed against the network over a 6o Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last October conflicted the company’s directors who worried refusal to settle would derail the planned merger with Skydance but settling for too much could increase the risk of a shareholder lawsuit and congressional investigations.

Trump has been complaining about Harris’s October interview with CBS’s long running Sunday evening program since it aired, filing a lawsuit right before the November election and then amending it to add additional claims and demand a whopping $20 billion in damages and adding Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) as a plaintiff as part of a tenuous effort to support jurisdiction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a court favored by forum–shopping litigants like Trump and Elon Musk.

At the heart of Trump’s complaints about the Harris interview are his claims that a question asked by Bill Whitaker and an answer given by the Democratic presidential candidate were edited to change the appearance of her answer. This is not accurate. CBS released the full raw video footage and transcripts, insisting that the show’s broadcast “was not doctored or deceitful.” There were edits of the kind television programs frequently make to condense for time, but Trump’s accusation that they “changed” her answer simply is not true. His repeated rants that the interview somehow changed the results of last November’s election are nonsensical as well — he won that election.

CBS initially took a strongly defiant tone in two motions to dismiss filed in March that challenged both the Texas venue and the underlying cause of action in the lawsuit, denouncing the lawsuit as “an affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.” As the months went on, however, rumors continued to swirl that Paramount and CBS were anxious to end the conflict with the president in order to pave the way for the Skydance merger, even if it meant coughing up a large amount of money.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/paramount-board-fretted-trump-settlement-could-spark-shareholder-lawsuit-congressional-investigations-report/

[Girard442]

1. Not to worry. Luca Brasi, I mean SCOTUS, will fix that.

[johnnyfins]

2. Funny. It's worth noting Luca Brasi's

fate...

[Girard442]

3. From your mouth to God's ears.

[Tadpole Raisin]

4. I never thought I'd see the number of gutless pus-hog business and government leaders in my lifetime.

They say that sociopaths are attracted to positions of power and prestige: CEOs, financial experts, lawyers, military, surgeons, police officers, politicians, professors, salesmen, surgeons, religious leaders.

I’d add Supreme Court justices.

Worse, they recognize each other and sign on to get their piece of our hide. Always lurking opportunists.

Their comeuppance can’t happen soon enough. I hope Paramount pays a large price, preferably before I die.

[mpcamb]

5. It's a suit they'd have likely won. It's 'shut up and go way" money. And yeah, way over billed.

That's what comes out of being prone before trump.

[mdbl]

7. It completely compromises their integrity.

Once you allow yourself to be blackmailed, it will just continue.

[mpcamb]

11. Yeah, if any integrity exists. Or ever did. And you're right, there's No Exit once you're in that game.

[Nasruddin]

14. Well more than that

Who would pay any attention to a CBS news report on anything? It makes them another outpost of State TV.

[MadameButterfly]

16. It will encourage Trump to keep blackmailing people

This is a very lucrative gig for him. He'll blackmail for anything he doesn't like. He'll dream up things to not like, just for the money.
Eventually, just like Putin, he'll own everything.
The Oligarchs who think they will profit won't know what hit them. They'll only own stuff at his pleasure. Or they'll fall out of a high window.

[atreides1]

6. CBS is no longer a credible source

Not only did they pay that pus filled sociopath $16 million dollars, they also have to “release transcripts of ’60 Minutes’ interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”

This was clearly a bribe and CBS has lost all credibility, in my opinion!

[MadameButterfly]

17. I didn't know about that piece.

I guess 60 minutes is dead. Other networks to follow.
There has to be a lawsuit.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Should have made a counteroffer: $1 and Fuck Off And Die. nt

[Nasruddin]

15. Maybe the wrong protagonist, but....

[azureblue]

9. it is bribery

or more like ransom, to get the deal through. IOW sacrificing integrity for money.

[PSPS]

10. Yeah, but now Shari Redstone will get her $8 billion!!1111!111!!11!

[Retrograde]

12. As Rudyard Kipling wrote

"It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:–
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane."

(The Danegeld was a tribute paid to Danish invaders of England in the 10th century to keep the levels of burning and pillage to a minimum)

[quakerboy]

13. pay your bribe and recieve your benefits

Just ask trump to toss anyone who challenges it into his new concentration camp.

[MadameButterfly]

18. Since she will be investigated and likely go to prison

If Democrats win the mid-terms, her billions will go toward defeating Democrats. Or working with Trump to end elections altogether. We have already experienced what a wealthy criminal will do to democracy to stay out of jail.