News Flash
WASHINGTON, July 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A US senator renewed calls Wednesday
for a bribery investigation into Paramount following its $16 million settlement
with President Donald Trump over a lawsuit the entertainment giant initially
described as meritless.
The president had sued the CBS News parent company for $20 billion,
claiming the "60 Minutes" program had deceptively edited an interview with his
2024 election rival Kamala Harris in her favor.
The suit is described by Trump's critics as part of a broader assault on
press freedom that has seen him bar The Associated Press from the Oval Office
and sue other media organizations over their coverage.
Paramount nevertheless entered into mediation in a bid to placate Trump, as
it seeks to close its $8 billion merger with the entertainment company
Skydance, which needs federal government approval.
"With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs
his administration's approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be
bribery in plain sight," said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a
Democrat.
"Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so
I'm calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws
were broken."
Warren was among three senators who wrote to Paramount Global Chair Shari
Redstone in May with bribery concerns over the company's efforts to settle the
suit, calling for a congressional probe.
Republicans control both chambers of Congress, limiting the power of
Democrats to investigate or compel answers from witnesses.
The senators' letter came after CBS News head Wendy McMahon and "60
Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens quit over Paramount's handling of the
showdown with Trump.
- 'Paramount's surrender' -
The company initially called the suit "completely without merit" and sought
to have it dismissed.
It said in a statement to AFP the $16 million would go toward Trump's
future presidential library rather than to him personally, and added that the
settlement did not include an apology.
"Companies often settle litigation to avoid the high and somewhat
unpredictable costs of legal defense, the risk of an adverse judgment that
could result in significant financial or reputational damage, and the
disruption to business operations that prolonged legal battles can cause," it
added.
But Warren said the company should be "ashamed of putting its profits over
independent journalism" in the face of the Trump administration's "sheer
corruption."
Trump accused CBS of airing two different snippets from the same answer
that Harris, then vice president, gave about Israel, to help her in her
election campaign.
Legal experts have argued that the lawsuit would have been an easy victory
in court for CBS, which made public an unedited transcript of the Harris
interview.
And media watchers have pointed out that Trump routinely takes part in
interviews that are edited for all manner of reasons, often in his favor.
ABC News, owned by Disney, agreed to donate a similar amount to the Trump
presidential library in its own settlement with the president late last year.
Trump had contended that star ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos had defamed
him by asserting that Trump had been found liable for rape in a civil lawsuit
brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, when he was found liable for sexual abuse.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute
at Columbia University, called the Paramount settlement "a sad day for press
freedom."
"This was a frivolous lawsuit and the payment being described as a
'settlement' bears no relation to Paramount's actual legal exposure in the
case, which was negligible," he said in a statement.
"Paramount should have fought this extortionate lawsuit in court, and it
would have prevailed. Now Trump's presidential library will be a permanent
monument to Paramount's surrender, a continual reminder of its failure to
defend freedoms that are essential to our democracy."
