The dealings to settle President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes” may have been even more complicated and unseemly than was initially known.
Trump on Thursday claimed that the settlement ― which consisted of a $16 million payout largely to his presidential library ― was actually worth significantly more because it also included advertising that CBS would eventually run.
“We did a deal for about $16 million plus $16 million, or maybe more than that in advertising. So it’s a combination of 16 plus 16 plus. So it’s like $32 [million] to maybe $35 million,” Trump said, according to a White House press pool report from The Washington Post’s Cat Zakrzewski.
Trump also praised David Ellison, the son of one of his close allies and chief executive at Skydance Media, an independent studio that’s attempting to merge with Paramount, CBS News’ parent company. The $8 billion merger will require approval from the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission, which has led many to fear that the Paramount settlement is really about greasing the government’s wheels. Paramount denies this.
Trump’s comments appear to reference a “side deal” reported by the New York Post’s Charles Gasparino, who broke the news about an alleged offer that Ellison put forth. Gasparino reported that Ellison promised to run between “$15 million and $20 million of public service ads [on CBS] to promote causes supported by the president” once his company’s merger with Paramount was complete.
Paramount has denied any such offerings in its official settlement, but that would not preclude Skydance from cutting a separate deal to help the government approve the merger — an arrangement that would have been virtually unthinkable as recently as a year ago.
A “source familiar with the situation” gave Variety a vague denial that either Paramount or Skydance agreed to provide free advertising airtime to Trump. But such a denial would not necessarily cover other advertising friendly to the president’s causes.
A Skydance representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gasparino has written that Paramount’s lack of knowledge about a “side deal” enabled the company’s leaders to avoid the appearance of bribery.
Previously, Paramount executives had reportedly expressed concerns about charges of bribery if they settled with Trump in the lawsuit he filed alleging election interference by the CBS News program “60 Minutes” due to its editing of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS attorneys have previously dismissed Trump’s lawsuit as “meritless.”
The rumblings about a “side deal” come as Paramount’s settlement with Trump has been widely criticized for undermining press independence and posing a possible conflict of interest. Any agreement that also includes millions worth of favorable ads for Trump is only set to add to this scrutiny.
Trump on Thursday denied the settlement was related to approval of the pending merger.
Democrats, meanwhile, have called for the settlement to be investigated given the circumstances surrounding it.
“Paramount just paid Trump a bribe for merger approval. When Democrats retake power, I’ll be first in line calling for federal charges,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) previously wrote on Bluesky. “In the meantime, state prosecutors should make the corporate execs who sold out our democracy answer in court.”