Democratic US senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden, along with their liberal colleague Bernie Sanders, are pushing for information on Paramount’s efforts to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump against CBS News’s 60 Minutes – in hopes of determining whether the media company is violating a federal bribery statute, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a letter to Paramount chairperson Shari Redstone, the senators wrote that they are concerned the media company “may be engaging in improper conduct involving the Trump administration in exchange for approval of its merger with Skydance Media”.
Trump is suing 60 Minutes over complaints about how the CBS News program’s interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in October was edited, claiming it was deceitfully edited to make her sound better. The company has denied the allegations.
But it is seeking to settle the case as Paramount pursues a merger with Skydance. If that deal goes through, it would include a $2.4bn payout for the family holding of Redstone, Bloomberg News reported.
Trump’s lawsuit was filed in November 2024 and has demanded $20bn. Legal experts predict Paramount would prevail in the lawsuit if it fights it. Nonetheless, lawyers for Paramount and Trump have begun mediation over a possible settlement of the lawsuit.
Trump has ramped up attacks on the media during his second presidency, banning the Associated Press from the White House pool. He also received a $15 million settlement from ABC News in December 2024. And he has hurled threats and insults at ABC, CNN, and MSNBC over media coverage he hasn’t liked while also pushing to defund NPR and PBS.
Paramount’s merger with Skydance requires approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC’s leader is Trump-appointed chairperson Brendan Carr.
The president and chief executive officer of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, recently stepped down over disagreements about the handling of the lawsuit and the merger. McMahon refused to sign off on an apology over the interview with Harris as part of a potential settlement with Trump.
The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Bill Owens, resigned in April 2025 over his feeling that the program had lost its editorial independence.
Warren, Wyden and Sanders are seeking information regarding any requests made by anyone at Paramount to change 60 Minutes content as well as details on any discussions about concessions to Trump to secure approval of the merger.
