Shari Redstone and the board at Paramount are worried that settling the lawsuit with Donald Trump will leave them open for charges of “bribery,” especially if the Democrats take over Congress in the Midterms and move to launch investigations into the company’s actions.
The president, of course, is suing over the controversial interview with Kamala Harris broadcast just ahead of the 2024 election by Paramount-owned CBS series 60 Minutes. Trump alleges that the show deceptively edited the Harris interview to make her look better and in a effort to sink Trump’s re-election campaign. Paramount chief Shari Redstone and the network brass are mulling a settlement to put an end to the lawsuit.
However, Paramount is also in the midst of seeking federal approval for a multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media and Paramount chiefs are worried that settling the lawsuit will make it look as if they are trying to bribe the Trump administration into approving the merger, according to the New York Post.
Paramount board members are especially worried about the coming midterms. Currently, the Republicans have a thin majority in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but if the Democrats should roar back next year, the entertainment giant is worried that Democrats will seek to retaliate against Paramount by launching “endless congressional hearings” over the settlement with the president, the paper added.
“They’re really worried that they could face civil or even criminal charges and their insurance doesn’t cover the legal expense,” an insider told the Post. “The problem is no one really thinks Trump has a good case and she would be settling to push the deal forward.”
Paramount, though, insists that there is no connection between the merger and Trump’s lawsuit.
“This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process,” Paramount said in a statement. “We will abide by the legal process to defend our case.”
Trump was more focused on CBS and CBS News with his lawsuit than he was Paramount, of course, with his accusations that they were trying to swing the 2024 election to Harris.
The president alleges that the 60 Minutes crew edited down Kamala Harris’s answers to eliminate her stumbling, long-winded, “word salad” replies all to make her sound more on-point and cogent in her October 2024 interview.
For its part, 60 Minutes has denied making any deceptive edits to its interview with the then sitting vice president.
Redstone has said that she intends to make a decision on a possible $50 million settlement offer sometime soon.
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