After Paramount settles Trump CBS News suit, Sen. Warren seeks probe
by Darryl Coote · UPIJuly 2 (UPI) -- Film giant Paramount Global reached a settlement with U.S. President Donald Trump, who sued CBS News for $20 billion over editing of a 60 Minutes interview with his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
The move raises further concerns with press freedom and democracy advocates characterizing Trump's lawsuit as frivolous, a attack on the free press and unprecedented, while some Democrats warn it may violate bribery laws.
On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for a full investigation into if anti-bribery laws were broken, saying that Paramount has "refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry," and revealed her intent to introduce a new bill to curb "corrupt" presidential library donations.
"With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration's approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.
It comes a day after both sides of the lawsuit asked the court to stay ongoing proceedings in the case "because the parties are engaged in good faith, advanced, settlement negotiations," which the court agreed to on Tuesday.
Paramount Global told UPI in an emailed statement that it agreed to pay $16 million, excluding legal fees, to Trump's future presidential library to settle the lawsuit.
The settlement does not include a statement of apology, but Paramount said it has agreed to release written transcripts of future 60 Minutes interviews with presidential candidates.
Warren, who said she will introduce legislation to rein in "corrupt" presidential library donations, was critical of the "level of sheer corruption," adding it's "appalling" and that Paramount should be "ashamed of putting its profits over independent journalism."
"This settlement exposes a glaring need for rules to restrict donations to sitting presidents' libraries," she said.
60 Minutes is a program on CBS News, whose parent company is Paramount.
Trump filed the lawsuit against CBS News in October as he was running for president, taking issue with the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Harris, which Trump described as being deceptively doctored.
The lawsuit focuses on an answer Harris gave to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a preview of the interview that ran on Oct. 5, Harris was edited giving one answer. Then during the 60 Minutes episode that aired the next night, she was seen giving another answer. A transcript of the entire interview later published by CBS News shows that both responses came from the same, longer answer that Harris gave to the question.
Trump and his legal team accused CBS News in the lawsuit of "substantial news distortion calculated to (a) confuse, deceive and mislead the public, and (b) attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party."
While many in the legal community believed that Trump's lawsuit would fail, as nothing factually incorrect was reported during the interview, it came as Paramount was seeking a multibillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media and the deal has been pending review by the Federal Communications Commission.
In May, amid speculation that Paramount was seeking to settle with Trump, Warren along with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Bernie Sanders, I-V.t., sent Paramount Chairwoman Shari Redstone a letter warning her that under the federal bribery statute, it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence their official acts.
"Because the merger will involve the transfer of ownership of CBS broadcast licenses, the Trump administration's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must review the deal and has an opportunity to block it. Paramount appears to be attempting to appease the administration in order to secure merger approval," the senators said.
"Paramount's apparent capitulation to President Trump is a sharp contrast from its earlier position that it would 'vigorously defend' against the lawsuit."
Paramount Global referred UPI to a previous statement on the merger, stating: "This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process."
"We will abide by the legal process to defend our case."
Ahead of Paramount's announcement, the Freedom of the Press Foundation issued a petition urging CBS to not settle.
"Freedom of the Press Foundation has announced plans to file a shareholder derivative suit against Paramount's directors and officers if they settle," it said.
Trump is known as litigious, bringing lawsuits against those he feels have done him wrong, including news organizations.
In December, ABC News agreed to pay Trump $15 million in a defamation suit against the network after George Stephanopoulos repeatedly said in an interview that Trump was found "liable for rape" when a jury had found the president liable for sexual abuse.
He has also filed a $49 million lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward over allegedly unauthorized use of audio recordings.