United States media giant Paramount will pay President Donald Trump US$16 million (A$24 million) to settle a lawsuit regarding a 60 Minutes interview with former presidential rival Kamala Harris.
In a suit filed by Trump, he alleged that the network deceitfully edited an interview aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes with Harris to tip the scales in favour of the Democratic Party in the November election.
CBS is owned by parent company Paramount and aired two versions of the same interview, where it seems Harris is giving different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war.
However, both the network and some groups have stated that this is standard editing for TV interviews.
Previously, CBS said the lawsuit was “completely without merit” and asked the judge to dismiss the case.
Paramount said the settlement would be allocated to Trump’s future presidential library.
"The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret," the statement said.
Paramount also agreed that 60 Minutes would release transcripts of interviews with future presidential candidates.
A spokesperson from Trump’s media team claimed the settlement was a “win for the American people” against “fake news media”.
"CBS and Paramount Global realised the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle," the spokesperson added.
"President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American people."
Initially, Trump sued, claiming US$10 billion, but raised this number to $20 billion in damages.
The settlement comes ahead of Paramount seeking approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its US$8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which faced opposition from the Trump administration.
The lawsuit also follows a trend of Trump lashing out at the news media, often accusing unfavourable coverage of being “fake news”.
Following the settlement, Paramount shares fell by 1.2% on Wednesday.
