News Foundation’s freedom threatens legal action if dispatched to settle with Trump in a 60-minute interview
The freelance group of the Media Advocacy Group News Foundation has sent a warning letter to Paramount Mogul Shari Redstone, outlining plans to file a lawsuit if the media company settles a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against its subsidiary CBS.
“Companies that own the news media should not engage in baseless litigation that clearly violates the First Amendment,” Seth Stern, director of the News Foundation Advocacy Foundation, said in a statement.
Stern asked for a lawsuit Friday afternoon to issue a warning asking Paramount to retain any documents related to a potential Trump deal and urged the company not to resolve it. The nonprofit was able to seek damages because it owned a stake in Paramount. It plans to act on behalf of itself and other shareholders, accusing the settlement of the company’s executives of the matter, “violating the fiduciary obligations and wasting the company’s assets by engaging in activities that U.S. senators and others believe can constitute illegal bribery that falls within the scope of business judgment rules.” The White House and Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last October, President Trump sued Paramount’s subsidiary CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive for interviews with former Vice President Kamala Harris 60 minutes Deceptive editing was performed in a way that constitutes election interference. Trump initially sought $10 billion in damages and revised the lawsuit in February to demand $20 billion. Paramount’s global market value is approximately US$8.5 billion.
Although Paramount previously called the lawsuit a “insult to the First Amendment” to dismiss the March, it reportedly tried to resolve it. The company has a potentially profitable merger with Hollywood studio Skydance, which will require a signing from the Trump administration.
Last week, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden sent Redstone a letter to seek information about any potential settlement, raising concerns about bribery. “If the top officials influence President Trump or other administration officials by mocking specific arrangements, they may be breaking the law,” they wrote.
Discussions about potential solutions have cost CBS months. long time 60 minutes Executive producer Bill Owens suddenly resigned in April, and CBS News president and CEO Wendy McMahon resigned earlier this month. “It’s obvious to the company that I don’t agree with the way forward,” she wrote in the staff at the time.
Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount is not an isolated attack on the media. He sued ABC News, owned by Walt Disney Company, for defamation in March 2024, and comments from host George Stephanopoulos described the president as “responsible for rape.” (The federal jury believes Trump is liable for sexual assault in a 2023 civil case, but not rape.) The company settled the case in December. In late April, Trump released comments about his social platform Truth Social, facts that seem to threaten the New York Times and may take legal action later.
