Elizabeth Warren is joining the chorus of backlash against Paramount Global’s settlement with President Donald Trump, and she suspects the entire transaction may have been illegal.
Reacting to the settlement news on Wednesday, Warren called for an investigation into whether Paramount or the president violated anti-bribery laws with the $16 million settlement after what she called a “meritless” lawsuit.
Specifically, Warren said she and fellow Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden are concerned the media corporation may have engaged in “potentially illegal conduct.”
“With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration’s approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight,” Warren, 76, wrote in a press release.
On Tuesday, Paramount, which owns CBS, reached a settlement with President Trump in a lawsuit he filed against the company last fall over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The president alleged that the long-running news series had “deceptively edited” the interview with Harris to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic party.”
Trump also called for CBS to lose its broadcasting license over the interview, calling 60 Minutes’ reporting on him “fraudulent beyond recognition.”
As part of the settlement, Paramount will donate $15 million to Trump’s presidential library and pay another $1 million to cover his legal fees. An apology from the network was not part of the settlement. However, 60 Minutes will have to release the full transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates going forward.
Warren took specific issue with the settlement being funneled through Trump’s not-yet-existent library, adding in her press release that she plans to introduce new legislation that will “rein in corruption through presidential library donations.”
While legal experts considered the suit largely unwarranted and expected it to be dismissed before the settlement, Paramount may have had a vested interest in making nice with the president, according to multiple reports.
The company is currently in the midst of positioning an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission to continue.
Although Paramount has maintained that the settlement is “completely separate” from its merger with Skydance, the FCC’s Trump-appointed chairman has already contradicted that idea. In November 2024, months before he was sworn in, FCC chairman Brendan Carr preemptively told Fox News that he would kill the planned merger over the 60 Minutes debacle.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, called the settlement a “desperate move” that “marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment [and] should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press.”
Gomez also called for Paramount’s merger to go before a full commission vote instead of being approved by an assigned staff member, which could potentially damage the merger’s chances of approval.
The close timing of these two events, the lawsuit and Paramount’s merger, raised similar questions for Warren about whether the settlement was merely an attempt to secure FCC approval by appealing to the president with a donation.
Even before reaching a settlement, Paramount and CBS had received massive blowback for appearing to capitulate to President Trump, from Democratic politicians and its own employees alike.
In April, shortly after Paramount announced it would seek a settlement with Trump, longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens abruptly resigned, saying he felt he was no longer free to make independent editorial decisions.
A month later, CBS News and Stations CEO Wendy McMahon also departed the network. At the time, she told staff in a memo obtained by the Daily Beast, “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.”
After the settlement, The Hollywood Reporter reported that employees at CBS reacted with a “mix of disgust and relief,” but the stipulation that 60 Minutes would not be forced to apologize for the segment had prevented a “revolt” among employees.
In her statement, Warren said Paramount had “refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry” about the lawsuit from Trump, forcing her to open an investigation.
The post Elizabeth Warren Demands Bribery Investigation as Paramount Settles With Trump appeared first on The Daily Beast.
