Paramount Settles Lawsuit With Trump Over Kamala Harris ’60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

The president sued over an interview with Harris on the CBS News segment that he said was deceptively edited to her advantage.

By Alex Weprin, Winston Cho

July 1, 2025 10:26pm

In a widely expected but still stunning decision, Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit from President Trump, who sued over an October interview that 60 Minutes conducted with Kamala Harris.

Under the deal, announced Tuesday evening, the money will go to Trump’s presidential library.

". . .According to sources, Paramount believes that the suit posed a threat to Skydance’s deal to acquire the company, which requires regulatory approval, including the transfer of FCC licenses. FCC chairman Brendan Carr has said that the 60 Minutes interview would come up in the Commission’s review of the deal. The FCC has since requested the full transcript and unedited footage of the interview.

And clearly executives believe that the settlement boosts the chances of the government greenlighting the merger, though it’s always possible that the FCC still takes a close look.

Inside CBS News, rumors of the settlement sparked anger and resignation, given how common it is in the news business to edit down long interviews for time constraints. On April 22, longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens abruptly announced his resignation, citing an inability to “make independent decisions based on what was right” for the show.. ."

The Writers Guild of America East, which reps 60 Minutes and CBS News staffers, criticized the deal and backed the journalists at the news outlets. “This settlement is a transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval,” the WGAE stated. “Paramount’s decision to capitulate to Trump threatens journalists’ ability to do their job reporting on powerful public figures.”