Paramount has reportedly delayed a $35 million settlement after President Donald Trump sued its CBS affiliate over a lightly edited interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Thursday, the New York Post reported that Paramount feared the settlement would be viewed as "bribery" as media heiress Shari Redstone needed government approval to sell the company to Skydance, an independent studio.
"Approval of the deal by Trump's regulators at the Federal Communications Commission is seen as contingent on settlement of the case, people at Paramount tell The Post," the report said. "Trump legal reps and officials deny that the two issues are related, but Paramount executives are concerned that any large settlement would be considered a bribe since the fate of the $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger is at stake."
A source within the Trump legal team told the Post that there were no plans to settle.
"We have a strong case," the person said.
Last month, the California State Senate opened a legal inquiry into the potential settlement.
"Such a settlement would signal that politically motivated lawsuits can succeed when paired with regulatory threats," a letter from the California Senate noted. "It would damage public trust in CBS News and other California-based outlets, diminishing the state's stature as a national leader in ethical journalism. Paramount's capitulation would also undermine two essential pillars of a liberal democracy: a free press and an impartial, rule-of-law regulatory system."
