Paramount to pay Trump $16 million

Harris interview at centre of lawsuit

- HELEN COSTER JACK QUEEN

CBS parent company Paramount yesterday settled a lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump over an interview broadcast in October, the latest concession by a media company to a president who has targeted outlets over what he describes as false or misleading coverage.

Paramount said it would pay $16 million to settle the suit with the money allocated to Trump's future presidential library, and not paid to Trump “directly or indirectly.”

“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” the company statement added.

Trump filed a $10-billion lawsuit against CBS in October, alleging the network deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news show with then-vice president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic Party” in the election. In an amended complaint filed in February, Trump bumped his claim for damages to $20 billion.

CBS aired two versions of the Harris interview in which she appears to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Texas.