Paramount Pays $16M to Settle ‘60 Minutes’ Suit
Settlement draws ire from Democrats and free speech advocates alike
WASHINGTON, July 3, 2025 – Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle its $20 billion lawsuit with President Donald Trump.
Paramount stated that the $16 million will be used to pay for the legal fees of Trump and fellow plaintiff Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, and for Trump’s future presidential library. No amount of money will be paid directly to Trump or Jackson, according to the company’s statement.
The media conglomerate drew ire from Trump after CBS, which it owns, aired a ‘60 Minutes’ episode with Kamala Harris that the President claimed was deceptively edited. The Center for American Rights filed a complaint against Paramount, which was dismissed by then-Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel four days before she left office. However, her successor, Brendan Carr, reopened the complaint shortly after taking office, while Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit, claiming the edits were “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference.”
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The company’s decision to settle drew immediate criticism from Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez.
“This moment marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment, and it should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press,” Gomez wrote in a statement sent to Broadband Breakfast.
Gomez alleged the payout was intended to curry favor with the administration and secure approval for Paramount’s pending merger with Skydance Media.
“Despite repeated attempts to deny the obvious, this Paramount Payout is a desperate move to appease the Administration and secure regulatory approval of a major transaction currently pending before the FCC,” Gomez said.
“Had Paramount chosen to fight this in court, they would have prevailed on the facts and the law. But instead of standing on principle, Paramount opted for a payout,” Gomez said.
Gomez called on the FCC to bring the proposed merger between Paramount and Skydance before the full commission for a vote, a position supported by Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.
Critics say Paramount’s settlement a strategic move to save Skydance merger
Paramount announced in July 2024 its intention to merge with Skydance Media and form “New Paramount.” National Amusements, which owns a controlling stake in Paramount, is currently saddled with more than $400 million in debt.
National Amusements President and CEO Shari Redstone, whose family owns National Amusements and stands to net $2.4 billion from the deal, pushed for a settlement with Trump, though Redstone reportedly recused herself from decisions dealing with his lawsuit.
Had the FCC denied the $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance, or simply waited until the mid-October to make a decision, Skydance could have pulled out of the deal, and left Paramount on the hook for a $400 million termination fee.
That, combined with Redstone’s need to come up with an additional $550 million to satisfy creditors, could have presented Redstone with a “nightmare scenario” according to former JP Morgan Chase managing director Wiliam Cohan.
“It’s not at all clear where Shari Redstone would come up with the $550 million she would owe her creditors if the Skydance-Paramount deal falls through, and the consequences are mind-boggling,” he wrote in the publication Puck.
Paramount denied that its decision to settle was related to its proposed merger with Skydance, stating that it had treated the suit “completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process.”
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to “release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.” Paramount refused to apologize or express regret for airing the ‘60 Minutes’ episode.
House Democrats decried FCC probe as political pressure tactic
Carr’s decision to relaunch the investigation drew sharp criticism from House Democrats, who argued that it was a politically motivated probe designed to extort Paramount while silencing critics of the administration.
“Your partisan goals are transparent and inappropriate, particularly given your previous experience as FCC General Counsel,” Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Yvette Clarke ,D-N.Y., wrote Carr in a March letter.
“Your pursuit of these actions is clearly intended to punish and burden broadcasters and other media companies by inflicting incalculable reputational harm and excessive costs to defend themselves,” they continued. “This is an obvious effort to create additional leverage in Trump’s settlement negotiations and encourage payment in a sham lawsuit in exchange for favorable regulatory outcomes.”
Carr disputed those allegations in an exclusive interview with Broadband Breakfast.
“What I can tell you is that we'll give everybody a fair shake, and I think that's a departure from where a lot of President Biden's policies went,” Carr said. “We are returning to an even-handed treatment for everybody and the people that politically were benefiting from the weaponization of the government now feel like they're getting discriminated against when the reality is they're just getting even-handed treatment.”
A spokesperson for President Trump’s legal team argued that Trump delivered “another win for the American people” and that “CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle.”
