The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret, and the money will not be paid to Trump directly or indirectly.
President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS parent company Paramount over edits made to a “60 Minutes” interview was settled on July 2 after the media company agreed to pay $16 million, the company said.
Paramount said in a statement that the money would be allocated to Trump’s future presidential library and would not be paid to him directly or indirectly.
“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” the company stated.
The Epoch Times contacted Paramount and the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Trump sued Paramount for $10 billion in October over its handling of an interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The lawsuit alleged the network deceptively edited the interview in an “attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party” in the election and accused CBS of having engaged in “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion.”
The president amended his complaint in February, increasing the claim for damages to $20 billion and alleging that CBS and Paramount’s actions amounted to false advertising and unfair competition.
The amended complaint also named Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) as a plaintiff, alleging he was harmed as a consumer of CBS’s news.
Trump’s legal team said in the amended complaint that the interview in question “was conducted by CBS’s Bill Whitaker … and recorded in two sessions.”
On Oct. 6, CBS aired a promotional excerpt of the interview during CBS’s “Face the Nation,” in which Harris responded to a question asked by Whitaker regarding Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “incoherently and indecisively,” the lawsuit said.
The following day, on Oct. 7, CBS broadcast and posted the interview online, according to the lawsuit. When it aired, it contained “approximately fifteen minutes of manipulated footage from the interview interspersed with about six minutes of footage related to the topics being addressed.”
During the broadcast, Whitaker asked Harris the same question regarding Netanyahu, and this time her reply was “coherent” and “decisive,” the lawsuit said.
