CBS Journalists FURIOUS As Network Prepares to Settle $10B Trump Lawsuit

Staffers at CBS News are reportedly fuming as the network prepares to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against them.

President Trump is suing CBS News for $10 billion after they were caught deceptively editing Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview.

Now, the upper echelons at the network have green-lit talks with President Trump’s representatives about negotiating a payout.

But, the so-called ‘journalists’ over at CBS are outraged over this proposition, as they worry it could endanger the ‘free speech’ of the press.

I guess they must think that ‘free speech’ constitutes lying and manipulating the American people?

Here’s what’s being reported:

🇺🇸CBS STAFFERS ‘FUME' AS PARAMOUNT CONSIDERS TRUMP SETTLEMENT

CBS News journalists are outraged as Paramount explores settling Trump’s $10B lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala.

Redstone, Paramount’s chair, is pushing to resolve the case, reportedly to smooth the… https://t.co/e7WZh1yoc9 pic.twitter.com/Pl2Oed9Phl

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 31, 2025

🚨CBS Staffers Outraged As Network Prepares For Settlement In Trump’s $10B Lawsuit Against Them 🚨

CBS News staffers have expressed their outrage over the network’s parent company’s intentions of reaching a settlement in the $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/o4oD31WF4h

— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) February 1, 2025

CBS News staffers are reportedly furious over parent company Paramount Global's intent to reach a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Trump over a controversial "60
Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.😂 https://t.co/iin01YTl5d pic.twitter.com/lbfgKdZGfv

— ✨Rojas✨ (@mcucolo57) February 1, 2025

The New York Post reported:

CBS News staffers are reportedly furious over parent company Paramount Global’s intent to reach a settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit filed by President Trump over a controversial “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Journalists at the Tiffany Network’s news division are up in arms as Paramount chairwoman Shari Redstone green-lighted talks with the president’s representatives over a payout, the Status newsletter reported on Friday.

Then-candidate Trump filed a lawsuit in October in which he accused the long-running investigative program “60 Minutes” of manipulating an interview with Harris in a way that was unfavorable to him.

Insiders told Status that both CBS News president Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens are strongly opposed to settling as staffers fumed that a payout could have negative ramifications for press freedom.

Legal experts also have dismissed the lawsuit as meritless.

“There is absolutely no reason, from a legal perspective, for CBS to settle — this is a ridiculous case,” First Amendment attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. told Status.

Nevertheless, Redstone, the 70-year-old daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone, is believed to be eager to put the legal saga behind her in order to boost the odds that Trump administration regulators will rubber-stamp a merger between her company and Skydance Media, according to the New York Times.

Variety added:

Paramount Global and CBS News may have very different views on the journalism produced each week by “60 Minutes.”

Staffers at CBS News, the unit that serves as home to the venerable newsmagazine as well as “CBS Evening News” and has ties to the early days of TV news when Edward R. Murrow held sway, are steaming over the prospect that parent corporation Paramount Global may settle a $10 billion lawsuit filed by now-President Donald Trump against “60 Minutes” that appears to be underpinned by weak arguments.

Two reports in recent weeks, one published Thursday by the New York Times and another earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal, suggested executives at Paramount were considering ways to bring the suit to a close. Filed in federal court in the Northern District of Texas in November, the suit alleges “60 Minutes” tried to mislead voters by airing two different edits of remarks made in an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, then Trump’s rival for the White House. CBS sought to have the case thrown out in a subsequent filing.

Though the suit is seen as shoddily constructed by legal experts, it is levied as Paramount is moving to be acquired by Skydance Media, a transaction worth billions to Shari Redstone, the controlling owner of Paramount through her family’s National Amusements Inc. theater chain. CBS News staffers believe Paramount and Redstone could seek a settlement in order to ensure the Skydance deal goes forward without substantial delay.

A court filing on Friday suggested talks could be in the offing. Attorneys for President Trump filed a request to postpone a deadline to respond to CBS’s motion to dismiss by Feb. 7. Such a motion doesn’t mean a settlement is near, but it could indicate the two sides are having discussions about potential outcomes. The court approve the extension.

But there are also new pressures being brought to bear. “Late Wednesday, CBS News was sent a Letter of Inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking for the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from our interview with Vice President Harris which aired on October 7, 2024,” CBS News said in a Friday statement. “We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do.” The FCC has also reinstated a complaint made last year against New York’s WCBS, also part of Paramount, accusing the station of “intentional news distortion,” tied to the“60 Minutes” interview with Harris.