Paramount to pay Trump $16m over Kamala Harris interview in ‘free speech’ lawsuit

By Josef Al Shemary

US media group Paramount has agreed to pay 16 million dollars (£11 million) to settle a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump over the editing of an interview with then-vice president Kamala Harris.

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Trump had complained about the editing of an interview Kamala Harris gave to CBS News show 60 Minutes.

The then-presidential candidate complained the interview was deceptively edited to make then-vice-president Harris sound better and “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic party” during the election campaign.

Trump did not agree to be interviewed by 60 Minutes during the presidential campaign.

CBS aired two different versions of the interview, with Harris giving different answers to a question from interviewer Bill Whitaker in separate clips aired on 60 Minutes and Face The Nation earlier in the day.

CBS said both replies, which came to a question about Israel’s war in Gaza, were part of Harris's long answer to Whitaker, but the clip was edited to be more succinct.

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Trump launched a $10bn lawsuit in October, before amending his complaint and raising the damages he wanted to receive to $20bn.

The US president’s lawyer, Edward Andrew Paltzik, said he had suffered "mental anguish" over the editing of the interview, alleging it would mislead voters and cause them to pay less attention to Trump and his Truth Social platform.

CBS and parent company Paramount denied the allegations, and have described the lawsuit as being “completely without merit.”

The case was seen as a challenge to free speech, and CBS had sought to get the president's lawsuit dismissed before now agreeing to settle.

Paramount said the money will go to Trump's future presidential library, not to the president himself, and added that the settlement did not involve an apology.

Under the settlement, reached with help of a mediator, Paramount agreed that 60 Minutes will release transcripts of future interviews with presidential candidates, "subject to redactions as required for legal and national security concerns", CBS News said.

Paramount and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone were seeking the settlement with Trump, whose administration must approve the company's proposed merger with Skydance Media.

CBS News president and chief executive Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens, who both opposed a settlement, have resigned in recent weeks.

The case has been closely watched by advocates for press freedom and journalists at CBS, whose lawyers pledged to fight it after it was filed.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a media advocacy group that says it is a Paramount shareholder, said it would file a lawsuit in protest if a settlement was reached.

In December, ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit by the president over statements made by anchor George Stephanopoulos, agreeing to pay 15 million dollars (£11 million) towards Mr Trump's presidential library rather than engage in a public dispute.

Meta reportedly paid 25 million dollars (£18 million) to settle another Trump lawsuit over the tech firm's decision to suspend his social media accounts after the riot at the US Capitol on January 6 2021.