President Donald Trump is calling for Paramount, CBS and “60 Minutes” to “pay a price” for what he claims was deceptive editing of an Oct. 7 interview with former vice president Kamala Harris as his $20 billion lawsuit against the media giant heads into mediation this week. Trump’s statement, in the form of a screed on social media, comes the same day as Paramount and Trump’s lawyers are set to begin mediation on the suit.
In the full rant, which was posted to Truth Social on Wednesday morning, Trump said his case is a “true WINNER,” adding that the company, network and news program “cheated and defrauded the American People at levels never seen before in the Political Arena.”
The complaint takes aim at Harris’ response to a question on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listening to the Biden administration, which was different in the final cut that aired on Oct. 7 than what aired in an earlier promo on “Face the Nation.”
Trump claimed Wednesday that the “disastrous” answer was “so bad and incompetent that it would have cost her many of the Votes that she ended up getting.” He then falsely claimed that Paramount “removed and deleted Kamala’s entire answer, every word of it, and replaced it with a response that she gave later on to an entirely different question.”
“The new answer was not good, but it didn’t show Gross Incompetence like the one that was removed by 60 Minutes,” he continued. “In other words, 60 Minutes perpetrated a Giant FRAUD against the American People, the Federal Elections Commission, and the Federal Communications System.”
CBS News has maintained that Trump’s accusations of deceitful editing were false, explaining that the promo that aired on “Face the Nation” used a longer section of Harris’ answer. It also turned over the transcript and camera footage from the interview to the FCC as part of the agency’s investigation into allegations of “news distortion,” which are now publicly available.
But that hasn’t stopped Trump from calling for CBS to face the “maximum fines and punishment” over the interview, including potentially losing its broadcast license.
Trump then turned his anger to the New York Times, which reported that Paramount’s board outlined acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement. The report noted that legal experts had called Trump’s suit “baseless and an easy victory for CBS.”
“They don’t mean that, they just have a non curable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, possibly to the point where the Times’ interjection makes them liable for tortious interference, including in Elections, which we are intently studying,” Trump said. “The bottom line is that what 60 Minutes and its corporate owners have committed is one of the most egregious illegalities in Broadcast History. 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. It is vital to hold these Liars and Fraudsters accountable!”
In response, a New York Times spokesperson said Trump’s post “follows a long list of legal threats aimed at discouraging or penalizing independent reporting about the administration. The law is clear and protects a strong free press and favors an informed American public. The New York Times will not be deterred by the administration’s intimidation tactics. 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.”
A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment on the NYT’s report. Per the Texas federal court hearing Trump’s case, any mediation in the litigation must be completed by Dec. 20.
The settlement talks come as Paramount has been looking to smooth relations with the Trump administration as it awaits FCC approval of its pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
The Skydance deal is subject to regulatory approval from the agency due to a required transfer of broadcast licenses of Paramount’s 28 owned-and-operated local TV stations.
During a Monday press conference, FCC chairman Brendan Carr said that the settlement talks have “nothing to do with the work that we’re doing.” But when asked about Trump’s comments calling for the maximum fines and punishment for CBS, Carr said that no decisions have been made but that “all options remain on the table” and the FCC’s investigation remains ongoing. He did not rule out the possibility for broadcast license revocations as a result of public interest standard violations.
“We’re just going to apply the law and the facts and the record and move forward. We are simply focused on the record that’s before us, and we’re going to make our decision based on the agency’s record itself,” Carr said.
If the Skydance deal is not closed by July 6, the deadline will be automatically pushed another 90 days to Oct. 4. After that, if the deal is still not closed, or if a regulator blocks the merger or one of the parties involved breaches the terms of the agreement, then Skydance and Paramount will have the option of terminating the deal.
Exercising that option would leave Paramount on the hook to pay Skydance a $400 million breakup fee.
A potential settlement from Paramount would come after Disney previously paid $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit Donald Trump brought against ABC News and star anchor George Stephanopoulos. Meta also paid $25 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit about being kicked off Facebook and Instagram after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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