On Wednesday (July 2), the U.S. President Donald Trump and CBS parent company Paramount reached a settlement regarding the controversial interview aired by the company’s television station during the election period.
Paramount announced that they would pay $16 million to settle with President Trump, and this amount would be used for Trump’s future presidential library and not be directly or indirectly paid to the President himself. The company stated that the settlement agreement did not include any apologies or expressions of regret.
The statement mentioned that both parties agreed that in the future, transcripts of interviews conducted with U.S. presidential candidates on “60 Minutes” would be made public, but the transcripts would be subject to necessary redactions based on legal or national security considerations.
President Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) in a Texas federal court last October, seeking damages of up to $10 billion. Trump accused the television station of misleading editing and intentionally manipulating the content of the interview with then-Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, on the “60 Minutes” program, in order to influence the election results in favor of the Democratic Party.
The lawsuit pointed out that CBS aired two different versions of the Hillary Clinton interview, in which her answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas conflict were inconsistent.
In February of this year, President Trump amended the complaint, increasing the damages claim to $20 billion. He accused CBS of violating the Texas Consumer Protection Act by using false or misleading practices in editing interviews for commercial purposes.
CBS denied the lawsuit allegations and requested the judge to dismiss the case.
The case entered the mediation stage in April of this year and ultimately reached a settlement on Wednesday. At the same time, Paramount is preparing for a merger worth $8.4 billion, which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
During last year’s election period, Trump stated that if he were elected, he would revoke CBS’s broadcast license and criticized several media outlets for reporting inaccurately or misleadingly about him.
Paramount’s agreement follows a settlement reached between ABC News and Trump over a defamation lawsuit. In December of last year, ABC (American Broadcasting Company) agreed to donate $15 million to Trump’s presidential library and publicly apologized for an anchor falsely stating that Trump had been convicted of rape.
(Reference: Reuters)