Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
President Donald Trump says he will receive $20 million in ads and public service announcements from Skydance, the incoming owner of CBS, in his lawsuit against the network’s “60 Minutes” over its 2024 interview with then-Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris. This is in addition to the $16 million he won for his future presidential library in a settlement with Paramount.
Trump announced the development in a July 22 post on X.
“BREAKING NEWS! We have just achieved a BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN in our Historic Lawsuit against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount,” he wrote.
“Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars.”
Skydance will merge with Paramount to form a company called New Paramount, which will be led by Skydance CEO David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. RedBird Capital Partners, a minority owner in Skydance, will also play a role.
The president sued Paramount Global, which owns CBS, over its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, which Trump accused the flagship program of deceptively editing. This stems from interviewer Bill Whitaker’s asking Harris, who was running for president after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, about the Israeli conflict in Gaza and U.S. involvement.
During CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the show aired a part of Harris’s answer about whether the United States was putting enough pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s actions in Gaza. “60 Minutes” aired answers Harris gave in response to follow-up questions on the subject.
“Quite simply, the version of the Interview that Plaintiffs and other consumers ultimately saw during ‘60 Minutes’ on October 7, 2024 was not the Interview that Defendants advertised on October 6, 2024 during ’Face the Nation' and at other times prior to the Election Special,” the complaint said.
“The Preview and the Interview are both distortive, and to Defendants’ commercial and pecuniary benefit. Instead of broadcasting and posting the Interview online as advertised during the Preview and at other times prior to the Election Special, Defendants deceptively manipulated the Interview in a manner calculated to make Harris appear coherent and decisive, and thus the product more commercially appealing to Defendants’ audience.”
“60 Minutes” denied Trump’s allegation.
“‘60 Minutes’ gave an excerpt of our interview to ’Face the Nation‘ that used a longer section of her answer than that on ’60 Minutes.' Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response,” the program said in an Oct. 20, 2024, statement.
“When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point,” they continued. “The portion of her answer on ‘60 Minutes’ was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.”
Trump was offered the opportunity to be on “60 Minutes” ahead of the 2024 election but declined to appear.