Lawyers for Paramount Global and President Donald Trump have agreed a mediator to pursue an arrangement in a lawsuit that was filed by Trump – who demand $ 20 billion in compensation – against CBS News for a “60 minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, the New York Times reported.
Paramount refused to comment. A representative for Trump did not respond to a request for comments. The Times report, which cited anonymous sources, did not identify the mediator.
The hearing of the Federal Court of Texas said in a planning order of 20 February that “every mediation must be completed on Saturday, December 20, 2025.”
Trump complained to CBS news a few days before the presidential elections of November 2024, claiming that the “60 minutes” violated a law in the field of consumer protection in Texas by editing an interview with VP Kamala Harris. Earlier this year, the president expanded the lawsuit, who claimed an additional claim under the Federal Lanham Act and looking for $ 20 billion in compensation.
Last month, Paramount moved to reject Trump’s lawsuit as ‘an insult to the first amendment’. The company has submitted two motions to reject the case, one due to lack of jurisdiction and the other on the basis of the fact that the laws for consumer fraud do not arrange an editorial speech.
Paramount tries to merge with Skydance Media, a deal that is still awaiting approval by the FCC. The chairman of the agency, commissioner Brendan Carr, who was appointed by Trump, said that the FCC would consider the “60 minutes” case when assessing the merger.
In an earlier statement, a Paramount Global spokesperson said that Trump’s “60 minutes” lawsuit “is completely separate from and is not related to the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process. We will adhere to the legal process to defend our case.”
In March, in March, CBS asked the FCC to reject a complaint from a legal file of the public interest, in which the interview with “60 minutes” with Harris “news” news worship “, with the argument that the complaint is based on the idea that the US government can be a” roaming censor “. In her response of 7 March at the FCC about the Center for American Rights – complaints said complaints that “the complaint against CBS for ‘news worming’ proposes a less free world in which the federal government becomes a roaming censor – one that punishes the second gambling and even specific editorial decisions that are an essential part of the producing of the production of the producing of the production of the production.” “”
Carr, as part of an FCC probe in potential “news worming” in CBS News, the news exit demanded all the materials linked to the “60 minutes” Harris segment, including transcriptions and unprocessed video, turned. In February, CBS News did this, claiming that the broadcast of the “60 minutes” “was not preached or deceptive.”
In the meantime, Trump sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos in a separate case last year after the anchor had incorrectly stated that Trump had been found liable for rape. (Trump became liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll by a jury in New York.) In December 2024, Disney and ABC News agreed to pay $ 15 million to arrange Trump’s defamation.