As both sides continue to mediate, hoping to resolve his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News, an ongoing legal showdown between President Donald Trump and Paramount’s global president may be the protagonist on any day.
The lawsuit stems from a "60 Minutes" prime-time election special aired in early October, weeks before the 2024 presidential election, which interviewed then-Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign partner Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Trump-Dance-Cant called for invitations to the program.
A veteran "60 Minutes" producer told Fox News Numbers, "I hope Donald Trump has agreed to join the program." Because we have been doing fair but difficult interviews with candidates every four years, for 50 years. ”
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The “60 Minutes” staff talked with Fox News’ digital numbers, talking about the editor interviewed by Kamala Harris of the Trump Presidential Litigation Center. (Screenshot/CBS News)
Trump had a cold relationship with "60 Minutes" by 2024, most notably his 2020 seat and sat down with "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl, who had a Hunter Biden laptop scandal amid a tense exchange with the then-Gop business.
In an interview with Harris, she was put under pressure by "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker to illustrate why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not "listening" to the Biden administration. The exchange first aired in a preview clip of “Facing the Country”.
Harris replied, “Well, Bill, the work we did led to many movements in Israel in the region that were caused by many things, including the result of our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.” Conservative critics immediately laughed at her remarks as “word salad.”
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But in the prime time special aired the next night, the shorter, more focused answers to the vice president were shown to the same question.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what America has to be clear about under the conditions necessary for this war to end," Harris said in a prime time special.
Bill Whitaker's "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris was the center of high-risk litigation. (Screenshot/CBS News)
The answer swap immediately exploded on social media, which drove comments from CBS News deceptive editor Harris to scrub the viral "word salad" comments from prime time TV viewers. A few days later, Trump filed a lawsuit accusing election interference.
"60 Minutes" producer told Fox News numbers, "It's all on the board."
"Every 60 minutes of interviews are edited," the senior producer said. "Facing the country' used part of the answer, and we used different parts of the same answer. The only reason is clarity and concise."
The second “60 Minutes” producer told Fox News Digital, “No one will air the full answer to every question unless there is a live stream.” “The 60 Minutes standard is that you don’t mix and match questions and answers, not do that, but what Trump said on social media, which is a lie. So he’s lying, and I think people hear that and think he’s telling the truth.”
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Trump repeatedly asserted in comments to journalists and social media that CBS News commented from a completely independent Harris response and inserted it into a communication about Netanyahu.
Original transcripts and footage released by the FCC earlier this year show that both groups of Harris’ comments came from the same response, but CBS News only aired her first half in the first half preview clip of “Facing the Country” and the second half in a prime time special.
"The fact is that the standard journalism procedure is followed," said the second-generation producer.
The 60 Minutes producer who spoke with Fox News Digital firmly denied the notion that the editor was intended to help Harris and her campaign, insisting it was "fully indirect" and that it had no motivation beyond saving an hour of specials.
“They are both frankly not great,” the second “60 Minutes” producer said of the two Harris who aired. "She wasn't great in the interview. She wasn't a good communicator...it was such a sign that it was just a political move. You know, it was just a trump making noise and trying to make people hate the media."
President Donald Trump sued CBS News and its parent company Paramount Global for election interference charges, suing for $20 billion. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The 60 Minutes reporter also emphasized the schedule between that Sunday's "Facing the Country" and the prime time special Monday night. "Facing the Country" could get into part of Harris' shot and chose what he wanted to air that Sunday morning, while "60 Minutes" was still editing the Primetime Special the next night.
"That's why we don't let the 90-second answer run because that way, you're going to use a tenth story on ums and 'hmms' ... like you ask a question in an interview, people around meander and finally get the answer, and then you're like 'OK, that's the answer, that's the answer, but they're dealing with it, but they're dealing with it. "If Trump wants to say the agenda 60 minutes to 60 minutes before to make Kamara look better, I just think that's what's going on and see what's going on." That's another thing: she didn't win. ”
While the producers of "60 Minutes" believe that the content aired by CBS News follows the standards and practices of the network, they can't say if there is a similar situation to the Harris interview, where two different parts of the same answer aired separately, causing confusion between viewers.
During the initial commotion, there was a loud call for CBS News to release an unedited transcript, which the network refused at the time. Earlier this year, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr ordered CBS News to hand over transcripts of interviews as part of an investigation whether the network violated the FCC’s “news distortion” policy after filing a complaint.
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One producer suggested “60 Minutes” to get a page from the PBS Frontline’s transparency project script, an initiative involving the release of full interview videos and transcripts online when the movie is released.
"We might be starting to do that," the producer said. "If I were the 60-minute person in charge, 'I might be thinking about transparent projects like this. Like, well, watch the whole interview."
Even with the release of the original transcript, as the producers of "60 Minutes" pointed out, Trump never withdrew his lawsuit, but only doubled the "lie."
"Donald Trump has been doing it over and over for months since we released the transcript, to make false accusations," the senior producer said. "He was telling a lie. Obviously, they were lies. That didn't stop him from telling them."
Bill Owens was the executive producer of the “60 Minutes” who resigned last month, as Trump lawsuit loomed on CBS news.
“There are reports of settlement and/or apology in the media,” Owens reportedly told his staff in February. “The company knows I won’t apologize for anything we do.”
"60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens resigned after facing corporate pressure over Trump's lawsuit. (Piarasómídheach/Sportsfile, used to collide through Getty image)
Owens left CBS News because he said he couldn't maintain an independent newsroom in "60 Minutes." Before his withdrawal, Paramount's controlling shareholder Shari Redstone was increasingly involved in favor of shareholders in the settlement of the lawsuit.
Redstone wants to "keep" the segment involving Trump in the upcoming "60 Minutes" section and urges CBS executives to postpone any sensitive reports on Trump until after the Skydance merger deal is over. CBS News reporters, despite Paramount’s denial, linked her desire to resolve the lawsuit with a merger agreement that sought FCC approval.
“Their attempts to object to (Owens) are unbearable…it’s not something that any self-esteem editor can tolerate,” the first “60 Minutes” producer talked about his resignation. “It scares us all because it’s so wrong and unfair.”
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Despite the turmoil in recent months in CBS news, including the removal of the network’s CEO Wendy McMahon on Monday, the reporter of “60 Minutes” said they remain committed to their work, but if they continue to warn companies like Redstone, they will continue to interfere in the Trump Trump lawsuit.
"If the company's '60-minute reporters continue to put pressure on, then I can see people go away," the second producer said. "Like we go into next season, I'm reporting a story involving the Trump administration, and I feel my story is changing because something Shari Redstone likes or doesn't like, and I think for me, I think it's the rest of the staff, and that's the line."
A "60 Minute" producer warns Exodus if Paramount global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone continues to work hard. (Left: (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images), versus: Al Drago/Bloomberg by Getty Images)
As Paramount arranges to resolve Trump's lawsuit, it could reach $30 million, but the pressure continues to increase.
CBS late night host Stephen Colbert called up the huge payment the parent company is currently considering and said: “Take a bunch of cash to the president, through a frivolous lawsuit to make the sound of your broadcast license approved so dark.”
Democratic lawmakers, including senators. Bernie Sandersi-vt. and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass).
Legislators told Redstone.
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A Paramount spokesman told Fox News Digital: "This lawsuit is completely separate from the Skydance deal and the FCC approval process and has nothing to do with it. We will comply with the legal process to defend the case."
A Redstone spokesman told Fox News Digital that she pulled herself from the Paramount discussion of potential settlement in February. CBS News and President Trump's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
The prospects for the settlement announced in the coming days are not out of reach. "60 Minutes" aired the last episode of the season this past Sunday, and it didn't air new episodes until the fall, stopping people like Scott Pelley Make a sound to the audience In online drama, like he did last month after Owens quit.
Earlier this month, in the legal dramas Haunting Paramount and CBS News, the “60 Minutes” election special center elections, especially the Emmy nomination for the distinguished editorial interview nomination.