'Negotiate terms of bribe': Trump blasted after refusing Paramount's settlement offer
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 28, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Media conglomerate Paramount is now reportedly offering President Donald Trump an off-ramp in his lawsuit against the company. But the president is reportedly not enthused with the offer.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the parent company of CBS has offered Trump $15 million in exchange for ending his litigation over what he alleged was a deceptively edited video. When Trump initially filed the lawsuit, he asked for $10 billion, accusing CBS' "60 Minutes" of editing an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in which she was seen giving one answer to a question in a promotional clip, and another answer during the interview itself. However, CBS alleged that the two clips of Harris were from the same interview, that her full answer had been edited down for time and that news outlets regularly edit interviews in similar ways to meet the particular needs of a broadcast.
According to the Journal, Trump is rejecting that $15 million settlement offer, and is instead pushing for at least $25 million along with an official apology from CBS. Several commentators, journalists and others on social media opined that Trump is simply taking advantage of a situation in which Paramount is relying on the administration to approve its proposed merger with Skydance.
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"All of this is happening not because CBS did anything wrong, but because Trump knows he has Paramount over a barrel as they're trying to get a sale through the FCC," writer Matt Mueller tweeted. "That's all this is: He just knows he can get pretty much anything he wants from them right now."
Public policy researcher Neil Weinberg disagreed with Paramount's apparent decision to settle, tweeting that CBS should "simply use [its] giant media apparatus and army of lawyers to tell the president to f--- off rather than pay him a bribe."
On Bluesky, MSNBC columnist Paul Waldman proposed an alternate headline for the Journal's article, writing: "Paramount Offers President Trump $15 Million Bribe to Approve Corporate Merger, but Trump Demands $25 Million Bribe; Parties Continue to Negotiate Terms of Bribe."
Other journalists, like NBC affiliate 9News' director of investigations Chris Vanderveen, indicated they were watching the negotiations "very very closely." Heatmap News correspondent Matthew Zeitlin held out hope that CBS would "take its chances" given the amount of "legal pushback" the Trump administration had been facing. And The Block editor Jason Shubell openly wondered if Trump was simply asking for more money from Paramount "for added humiliation."
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Click here to read the Journal's full report (subscription required).
