While it’s being widely reported that Paramount has reached a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump to resolve his CBS/“60 Minutes” election interference lawsuit, the final tab could exceed $30 million, inside sources say.
The lawsuit alleges that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with 2024 Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris to help her campaign ahead of the election. In a promo, CBS aired a clip of Harris providing an answer to a question that prompted mockery and characterization as a “word salad” – then replaced that answer with a different portion of her comment, apparently to make it appear more cogent.
Under Tuesday’s settlement, Paramount Global and CBS agreed to pay $16 million upfront to cover legal fees, court costs and contributions to charities and a future presidential library.
But, that sum “could reach north of $30 million,” Fox News reports:
“There is an anticipation that there will be another allocation in the mid-eight figures set aside for advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes by the network in the future, Fox News Digital has learned.
”With these considerations, CBS would pay well in excess of the $15 million ABC paid Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit last year. Current Paramount management disputes the additional allocation.”
“With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital:
“President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”
CBS has also reportedly agreed to adopt a new editorial policy mandating that it will quickly release the full transcript of any interview of a presidential candidate, which many in the media have dubbed “The Trump Rule.”
Over the weekend, both parties rushed to reach a settlement before a court deadline, after which they would have been forced to turn over internal documents, according to The New York Times:
“After weeks of negotiations with a mediator, lawyers for Paramount and Mr. Trump worked through the weekend to reach a deal ahead of a court deadline that would have required both sides to begin producing internal documents for discovery, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.”
Additionally, if left unsettled, Trump’s lawsuit would have been “a potential hurdle to completing a multibillion-dollar sale of the company to the Hollywood studio Skydance, which requires the Trump administration’s approval,” the Times notes.
Paramount agrees to pay $16 million to Trump over the edited 60 Minutes Kamala interview!
— MRCTV (@mrctv) July 2, 2025
The leftist media are paying for what was one of the most blatant acts of election interference to date!pic.twitter.com/U8cS0rtPPr