Opposition to CBS News parent Paramount potentially opting to settle a $20 billion lawsuit from President Donald Trump is growing, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) warning the network that doing so will embolden the government to continue targeting the press.
In the letter sent to controlling shareholder Shari Redstone on Tuesday, Sanders nods to chatter that Paramount may reach a deal to resolve the case for up to $75 million.
“Rewarding Trump with tens of millions of dollars for filing this bogus lawsuit will not cause him to back down on his war against the media and a free press,” the senator writes. “It will only embolden him to shakedown, extort and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like.”
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Last week, lawyers for both sides sat down to discuss a possible settlement. For Paramount, incentives to dispose of the case are high. A deal may open up a pathway for regulatory approval of its pending merger with Skydance. It’s believed that Redstone supports this avenue.
By most legal observers’ thinking, the lawsuit is destined for dismissal because of industry-wide norms related to editing interviews. Trump pursues a novel theory revolving around arguments that CBS News’ editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign constitutes a violation of Texas’ consumer protection law covering deceptive advertising and unfair competition.
In March, Paramount moved to dismiss the case under arguments that its editorial judgments are constitutionally protected free speech. It also challenged Trump’s filing of the lawsuit in a federal court in Texas, which has become a hot spot for legal battles advancing conservative legal causes. CBS is incorporated in New York, but Trump’s legal team chose to sue in the Northern District of Texas, prompting concerns that he’s cherry-picking judges by filing the complaint at a court where a sympathetic judge is likely to oversee the case.
“This lawsuit is an affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact,” wrote Thomas Riney, a lawyer for CBS, in the dismissal bid. Trump seeks to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.”
On this point, Sanders, who was joined by eight senators, writes, “We, and most legal experts who have reviewed this case, could not agree more. This lawsuit is an attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendment. It has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand.
The letter warns of escalating efforts to chill free speech if Paramount were to settle the lawsuit, pointing to the administration’s intimidation of the media and “those who speak out against” Trump.
“Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy,” Sanders writes. “Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism.”
CBS News isn’t the only outlet that’s been targeted. Last month, FCC chair Brendan Carr urged the agency’s enforcement arm to open an investigation into Disney and ABC for allegedly maintaining discriminatory policies through racial quotas, among other things.
Amid settlement discussions, Trump continues to criticize the network.
“The case we have against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount is a true WINNER,” he wrote on Truth Social last week. “They cheated and defrauded the American People at levels never seen before in the Political Arena.”
Sanders was joined by Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
