Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump, it said late Tuesday night.
The suit, filed in federal court in Texas in October, accused CBS — owned by Paramount — of "deceptive editing" of an interview with Trump's presidential rival, Kamala Harris, aired on CBS' "60 Minutes."
The suit alleged that the way the interview was edited "tipped the scales in favor of the Democratic party" during November's election, which Trump won.
According to the complaint, CBS aired two versions of the same interview — one on "Face the Nation" and another on "60 Minutes" — in which Harris appeared to give substantially different responses to the same question about Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump's legal team described the discrepancy as "news doctoring," saying it was "designed to mislead the American people" and to make Harris appear more coherent and presidential.
At the time it was filed, CBS described the suit as being "completely without merit."
The network said it had "fairly presented the interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead it.
"The lawsuit Trump has brought today against CBS is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it."
Paramount's settlement
On Tuesday evening, Paramount said it had reached a settlement "in principle" to end both the Texas lawsuit and a threatened defamation case relating to another "60 Minutes" segment.
"Paramount will pay $16M in total, which includes plaintiffs' fees and costs, and except for fees and costs, will be allocated to the future presidential library," the company said in a statement, adding that the terms of the settlement had been proposed by a mediator.
Notably, its statement did not include an apology or a statement of regret.
It also said that "no amount will be paid directly or indirectly to President Trump or Rep. Jackson personally." Trump's suit was brought in tandem with Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson.
It also agreed to release full transcripts of future "60 Minutes" interviews with eligible US presidential candidates, though those may be redacted for legal or national security reasons.
Paramount also sought to distance the agreement from its pending merger with Skydance Media, saying the lawsuit was "completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process."
