Paramount Global/Skydance merger - Variety: Democratic Senators Urge Paramount’s Shari Redstone to Fight Trump’s ‘Bogus’ Lawsuit Over ‘60 Minutes’ Segment: ‘Stand Up for Freedom of the Press’

Story from Variety:

Nine Democratic senators sent an open letter to Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, urging her company to not settle a lawsuit filed by President Trump — which seeks $20 billion in damages — over what he claims was a deceptively edited interview aired by CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

“This lawsuit is an attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendment. It has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand,” the senators wrote in the letter, dated May 7. “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 letter, addressed to Redstone and posted publicly, was signed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

A rep for Redstone declined to comment.

President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS alleges “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview last fall with then-VP Kamala Harris and thereby misled voters and interfered with the 2024 U.S. president election. In a social-media post last week, Trump claimed the incident represented a level of fraud “never seen before in the Political Arena” and that his lawsuit is “a true WINNER.”

Lawyers for Trump and Paramount last week initiated mediation to determine a potential resolution to the lawsuit. The terms of Paramount’s initial offer is unknown, but the Wall Street Journal reported that company execs in recent weeks have floated the idea of settling the lawsuit for up to $20 million. Trump wants much more than that, as well as an apology, according to the Journal report.

In their May 7 letter, the nine Democratic senators wrote, “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 shakedown, extort and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like. 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.”

The senators’ letter concluded: “As Walter Cronkite, who was described as the most trusted man in America, once said: ‘Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.’ Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy. Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism.”

In March, Paramount “did the right thing” by filing two motions to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit, the Democratic senators wrote. The media company called it “an affront to the First Amendment” that “is without basis in law or fact” and said: “In our system, the remedy for disagreement with political speech one does not like is counter-speech not court-enforced damages under the guise of commercial regulations.”

On Wednesday morning, Trump posted this on Truth Social, the platform run by Trump Media & Technology Group, noting that the “60 Minutes” was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award in the Outstanding Edited Interview category for the Harris interview segment: “The Election Interfering 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which aired on CBS just before Election Day and deep into Early Voting, turned out to be much worse than expected, with her answers being unlawfully fixed, manipulated, and doctored throughout by CBS, in order to try and make Kamala appear at least somewhat coherent. The full transcript, which 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount tried to hide from the American People, and refused to release until after I was already Inaugurated, and they were ordered to do so by the Federal Communications Commission, shows that the ‘interview’ was nothing but fake, corrupt, anti-Trump propaganda. On top of that, in a total slap in the face to anyone who believes in TRUTH and Honest Journalism, this Fake News Puff Piece has now been nominated for an award by the totally discredited Emmys. Did 60 Minutes and its Corporate Parents apply to get an Emmy for an illegally falsified interview, or did other Fake Outlets nominate them for this dubious ‘honor’? These antics are why the American People have no trust in the Press, and demand that the Media, very much including 60 Minutes, CBS, and its owners, be held responsible for their corruption and lies, which is exactly what we are doing in Court!”

Redstone is eager to close the $8 billion pact with the Ellisons to merge Paramount Global and Skydance Media. After the parties reached an agreement on the transaction in July 2024, it is still awaiting approval from Trump’s handpicked chairman at the FCC, Brendan Carr. Officially, both Paramount Global and Carr insist the regulatory approval process is separate from Trump’s lawsuit against CBS. But media watchers have speculated that a settlement with Trump would grease the skids for Skydance-Paramount to close.

In February, Redstone asked Paramount Global’s board to resolve the Trump lawsuit, including by exploring the possibility of mediation. Redstone has recused herself from the Paramount Global board’s discussions about a settlement with Trump. But she obviously has final sign-off on any such agreement.

Redstone, seeking to avoid Trump’s wrath, has urged CBS chief George Cheeks to more closely monitor what “60 Minutes” puts on the air, according to sources familiar with the situation. The greater scrutiny apparently led longtime “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens to call it quits and angered the venerable TV newsmagazine’s staff.