Several Democratic senators have called for Paramount, the parent of CBS News, to refuse to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump.
The letter to Paramount, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), calls the lawsuit an “attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendment. It has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand.”
“In the United States of America, presidents do not get to punish or censor the media for criticizing them,” the letter argued. “Freedom of the press is what sets us apart from tin pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.”
“Rewarding Trump with tens of millions of dollars for filing this bogus lawsuit will not cause him to back down on his war against the media and a free press. It will only embolden him to shakedown, extort and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like,” the senators wrote. “We urge you and the board of directors at Paramount to make it clear to President Trump today that Paramount will not surrender to his attack on the First Amendment.”
The lawsuit surrounds a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. It alleges that CBS deceptively edited Harris’ response to a question about Gaza, presenting her more favorably and constituting election interference.
President Trump wrote on Truth Social on May 7 that the interview’s full transcript showed that the discussion was “nothing but fake, corrupt, anti-Trump propaganda.”
“On top of that, in a total slap in the face to anyone who believes in TRUTH and Honest Journalism, this Fake News Puff Piece has now been nominated for an award by the totally discredited Emmys,” Trump said, adding, “These antics are why the American People have no trust in the Press, and demand that the Media, very much including 60 Minutes, CBS, and its owners, be held responsible for their corruption and lies, which is exactly what we are doing in Court!”
