President Donald Trump and Paramount are seeking a mediator, further fueling speculation that both parties will settle his $20 billion CBS News lawsuit, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
As first reported by The New York Times, lawyers for both parties are aiming to appoint a mediator that will likely expedite a resolution to the high-stakes legal battle.
"President Trump is committed to holding those who traffic in fake news, hoaxes, and lies to account," Trump attorney Ed Paltzik told Fox News Digital in a statement. "CBS and Paramount committed the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history. President Trump will pursue this vital matter to its just and rightful conclusion."
A representative for Paramount declined to comment.
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Fox News Digital has confirmed lawyers for President Trump and Paramount are seeking a mediator, further signaling that his lawsuit targeting CBS News may end in a settlement. (AP Photo; Reuters Photo; Screenshots/CBS News)
The search for a mediator comes just days after a judge ruled against Paramount and CBS News' motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, Trump’s lawyers amended the original lawsuit after the release of the unedited transcript and raw footage of its controversial "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which is at the center of the legal battle. The lawsuit added CBS News' parent company, Paramount Global, as a defendant, citing how the "60 Minutes" election special was platformed on its Paramount+ streaming service. The lawsuit added Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, as a plaintiff and increased the damages claim to $20 billion.
The FCC released the raw transcript and footage handed over by CBS News, which showed CBS News had aired only the first half of Harris' response to "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker's question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not "listening" to the Biden administration in a preview clip that aired on "Face the Nation." CBS aired only the second half of her response during the primetime special.
"But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening," Whitaker said in the October 2024 interview. "The Wall Street Journal said that he – that your administration has repeatedly been blindsided by Netanyahu, and in fact, he has rebuffed just about all of your administration's entreaties."
"Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we're not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris responded.
The "60 Minutes" interview between correspondent Bill Whitaker and then-Vice President Kamala Harris is at the center of President Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News and Paramount Global. (Screenshots/CBS News)
New FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered CBS News to hand over the unedited transcript as part of its investigation into whether the network violated the FCC's "news distortion" policy after a complaint was filed.
In the preview clip that aired on "Face the Nation," Harris was asked why it seemed like Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the U.S.
"Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded in the "Face the Nation" clip.
Shari Redstone, Paramount controlling shareholder, has reportedly been in favor of settling President Trump's lawsuit against CBS News. (Left: (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images), Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris was mocked by conservatives for offering a lengthy "word salad" to Whitaker. But when that same question aired the following night in the prime-time election special, a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president followed.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the prime-time special.
Critics accused CBS News of editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the vice president from further backlash, and there were calls for the network to release the full transcript after it only shared transcripts of what had aired. CBS News refused to release the raw transcript until the FCC got involved.
CBS parent company Paramount Global is reportedly considering settling the suit ahead of a planned merger with Skydance Media in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump's FCC, which has the authority to halt the multibillion-dollar transaction. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, is reportedly in favor of settling with the president.
A settlement from Paramount would be the latest in Trump's string of legal victories as he reached multimillion-dollar settlements with ABC News, Meta and X.