Paramount has agreed to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a 60

minutes interview with his former presidential opponent Kamala Harris. 60 minutes airs on

CBS, which Paramount owns. Mr. Trump alleged that the interview, which aired one month

before the 2024 election, was selectively edited to improve how then Vice President Harris sounded.

CBS denied that. Today, the head of CBS, George Cheeks, defended the settlement at Paramount's

annual shareholder meeting, saying, quote, the settlement offers a negotiated resolution to

allow companies to focus on their core objectives rather than being mired in uncertainty and distraction.

Paramount said the funds will go to President Trump's library, not to him personally.

CBS did not have to issue an apology as part of the deal. For more on this, I'm joined by Brian

Stelter. He's the chief media analyst for CNN, and he writes the reliable sources newsletter.

Brian, welcome back to the NewsHour.

Thanks so much.

So, Brian, this is not the first major media company to settle with President Trump.

You've been following this, though.

Did anything in this settlement or its terms surprise you?

Well, CBS did not actually do anything wrong here.

CBS engaged in standard television news editing practices,

but its parent company paid the price anyway, with some people likening this to a ransom

or even a bribe. The terms are not surprising because, as you said, Paramount's not the first

company to do this. Disney's ABC, in some ways, wrote the playbook that Paramount is now relying on because last

December when Trump was still president-elect, ABC settled with Trump out of court to the tune of

$16 million. So here we are again with $16 million heading toward Trump's presidential library.

...