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shari redstone
'Spineless Capitulation to Extortion': Paramount Caves to Trump With $16 Million Settlement
Critics characterized the payment as a bribe in exchange for federal approval of Paramount's pending merger with Skydance.
Jul 02, 2025
The parent company of CBS News, Paramount Global, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay U.S. President Donald Trump $16 million to settle what legal experts called an entirely meritless lawsuit over the media organization's handling of a pre-election "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris.
Under the reported terms of the settlement, the money will go toward Trump's legal fees and his future presidential library. Paramount said the settlement deal does not include a formal apology, but the company agreed to release written transcripts of future "60 Minutes" interviews with presidential candidates.
Critics responded with outrage to news of the settlement, which one observer characterized as "spineless capitulation to extortion." Some posted screenshots to social media showing they canceled their Paramount+ subscriptions in response.
As Paramount engaged in talks with Trump's legal team over the lawsuit in recent weeks, press freedom advocates and members of Congress implored the organization not to settle, warning that caving to the president would reward and embolden his attacks on media outlets he views as his political enemies.
"If you settle cases, you're going to send a message to your news team to not push the envelope for fear of people being sued," media attorney Edward Klaris told The Washington Post, "and you're going to court more cases against your company because they might think that if they sue you they're going to collect."
"A line is being drawn between the owners of American news media who are willing to stand up for press freedom and those who capitulate to the demands of the president."
Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, supported a settlement with Trump in the hope that it would "clear the way" for federal approval of the company's merger with the entertainment company Skydance, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the internal discussions. Bloomberg reported that Redstone could reap $180 million in "severance and other benefits on top of hundreds of millions from the sale of her stock" if the merger goes through.
In May, the Freedom of the Press Foundation—a Paramount shareholder—cautioned that a settlement with Trump "could amount to a bribe" to the Trump administration in exchange for approval of the merger. The advocacy group said it would sue Paramount if the company caved to the president, arguing that "a settlement of Trump's meritless lawsuit may well be a thinly veiled effort to launder bribes through the court system."
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) similarly warned Paramount that a settlement with Trump could run afoul of federal anti-bribery laws.
"Paramount appears to be attempting to appease the administration in order to secure merger approval," the senators wrote in a May 19 letter to Redstone.
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA, said in a statement Wednesday that the settlement was "a shameful decision by Paramount."
"Shari Redstone and Paramount's board should have stood by CBS journalists and the integrity of press freedom," said Weimers. "Instead, they chose to reward Donald Trump for his petty legal assault against both. A line is being drawn between the owners of American news media who are willing to stand up for press freedom and those who capitulate to the demands of the president."
"Paramount's leaders chose to be on the wrong side of that dividing line, but they'd be mistaken to believe appeasing Trump today will stop his attacks in the future," Weimers added. "News media owners are much better off standing strong than acquiescing."
This story has been updated to include a statement from Reporters Without Borders USA.
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'Enough Is Enough': Sanders Slams Redstone Over Ouster of CBS News CEO Amid Trump Suit
"Do not capitulate to Trump's attack on a free press," Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote. "Do not settle Trump's bogus lawsuit against '60 Minutes.'"
May 19, 2025
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday reiterated his call for the owner of CBS News' parent company to stand up to President Donald Trump following news that the outlet's CEO was forced to step down from her post.
"Bill Owens, the producer of CBS's '60 Minutes,' resigned in protest. Wendy McMahon, the head of CBS News, has now resigned," Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media. "I say to Shari Redstone: Enough is enough. Do not capitulate to Trump's attack on a free press. Do not settle Trump's bogus lawsuit against '60 Minutes.'"
Redstone is the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, which is currently in talks to settle Trump's lawsuit against CBS News. The suit, which experts have criticized as baseless and a threat to press freedom, accuses the outlet of deceptively editing an interview it conducted ahead of the 2024 election with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Redstone has advocated settling the Trump suit as she seeks federal approval of a merger deal between Paramount and the entertainment company Skydance. Semafor reported last month that Redstone, whose family stands to reap a large windfall if the deal goes through, had been keeping close tabs on "60 Minutes" segments to supervise coverage of Trump.
Redstone's monitoring triggered "a series of events that ended with the Tuesday resignation of the show's longtime producer," Bill Owens.
The New York Times noted Monday that "at the time, Ms. McMahon took pains to signal her support for Mr. Owens, saying that 'standing behind' the producer 'was an easy decision for me.'"
"Her embrace of Mr. Owens and '60 Minutes' put Ms. McMahon at odds with Paramount executives who were anxious about the show's reporting about the Trump administration," the Times added. "Within CBS News, some journalists expected Ms. McMahon to be gone within months. But the timing of her announcement, less than 24 hours after Sunday's season finale of '60 Minutes,' still raised eyebrows."
In a letter to Redstone earlier this month, Sanders and a group of Senate Democrats warned that settling the Trump lawsuit would "only embolden him to shake down, extort, and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like."
"Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy," the senators urged Redstone. "Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism."
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Sanders, Senate Dems to CBS Owner: 'Do Not Capitulate' to Trump Assault on Press Freedom
"In the United States of America, presidents do not get to punish or censor the media for criticizing them. Freedom of the press is what sets us apart from tin-pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes."
May 07, 2025
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a group of Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday implored the owner of CBS News' parent company not to cave in the face of President Donald Trump's legal assault on the outlet and other media organizations that he perceives as political enemies.
Sanders (I-Vt.) and his Senate colleagues argue in a letter to Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, that the $20 billion lawsuit Trump filed against CBS News late last year represents "a blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against him."
The lawsuit, which First Amendment experts have described as "frivolous" and potentially dangerous to press freedoms, claims CBS deceptively edited an interview it conducted with former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election.
The senators wrote in their Tuesday letter that "this lawsuit is an attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendment."
"In the United States of America, presidents do not get to punish or censor the media for criticizing them. Freedom of the press is what sets us apart from tin-pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes," the senators added.
"It will only embolden him to shake down, extort, and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like."
But the lawmakers raised alarm over Redstone's push to settle the Trump lawsuit as she seeks to close a merger deal with the entertainment company Skydance. If federal regulators approve the deal, Redstone's family stands to receive $2.4 billion in cash from Skydance in exchange for the controlling stake in Paramount.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Redstone "has advocated for a settlement with Trump, hoping it would clear the way for the merger's approval."
According to the Journal, Paramount leaders have discussed settling the Trump lawsuit for up to $20 million. Redstone has also reportedly "kept tabs" on recent "60 Minutes" segments to monitor Trump-related coverage.
Sanders and his Senate Democratic colleagues argued that settling the lawsuit "would be a grave mistake," warning that "rewarding Trump with tens of millions of dollars for filing this bogus lawsuit will not cause him to back down on his war against the media and a free press."
"It will only embolden him to shake down, extort, and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like," the letter states. "We urge you and the board of directors at Paramount to make it clear to President Trump today that Paramount will not surrender to his attack on the First Amendment."
"Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy," it continues. "Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism."
CBS is one of several media outlets Trump has targeted with legal action in recent months as part of a far-reaching assault on journalism in the United States.
"After nearly a decade of repeating insults and falsehoods, and filing lawsuits, Trump has normalized disdain for media to an alarming degree," the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report released last month.
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