CBS execs consider appeasing Trump complaints about '60 Minutes' to get merger approved

CBS executives are debating whether to settle President-elect Donald Trump's lawsuit against them for how they conducted the "60 Minutes" presidential campaign interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, reported the Wall Street Journal — predominantly because they want to prevent the incoming president from interfering with a planned merger.

"Paramount, owner of CBS, its namesake studio and several cable channels, has a major piece of business in front of the new administration: its planned merger with Skydance Media," reported Jessica Toonkel and Drew FitzGerald. "It’s become clear to executives at both companies that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News will make the review tougher than they anticipated, and that they’ll likely need to offer concessions to win approval, people familiar with the situation said."

Already, Trump's incoming Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who will regulate the transaction due to CBS' local affiliates holding broadcast TV licenses, has warned executives such a review is coming.

ALSO READ: MAGA rioter's lawyer takes personal shot at Trump as his client gets sent to jail

Trump's lawsuit alleges that the interview with Harris was selectively edited and “intentionally misled the public by broadcasting a skillfully edited interview” that was “aimed at causing confusion among the electorate regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s abilities, intelligence, and appeal.” Lawyers for CBS and legal experts have blasted the suit as meritless, noting that not only did Trump not provide any evidence the interview was deceptively edited, it's unclear that he would even have grounds to sue over it if it had been.

However, per the Journal, executives are "gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration," hoping that if the suit is dealt with quickly, regardless of its merits, Trump will have less reason to fight the much bigger legal issue of whether Paramount's merger can move forward.

This comes after ABC News settled another longshot lawsuit brought by Trump against the network, over anchor George Stephanopoulos stating that a jury had found him liable for the rape of E. Jean Carroll. A New York jury did find him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, and a state judge disputed the legal distinction between sexual abuse and rape in this context; however, the network decided to pay out rather than face an expensive and drawn-out trial, a decision which enraged many employees.