WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Wednesday, July 2nd, Paramount settled with President Donald Trump over his fraud/defamation case that stemmed from the edits of former Vice President Kamala Harris' interview with 60 Minutes last fall.
President Trump sought $20 million from Paramount, the parent company of CBS as well as a public apology for allegedly interfering with the election, Hot Air reported.
Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit in which President Trump alleged that the interview with Harris was deceptively edited, according to NBC News.
The agreement, proposed by a mediator, includes the plaintiff's fees and costs. The money, except for the fees and costs, will be allocated to President Trump's future presidential library.
"The settlement will include a release of all claims regarding any CBS reporting through the date of the settlement, including the Texas action and the threatened defamation action," Paramount said in a statement.
Sources close to the situation told Fox News Digital that CBS has agreed to update its editorial standards to install a mandatory new rule: Going forward, the network will promptly release full, unedited transcripts of future presidential candidates' interviews.
People involved in the settlement talks have referred to this as the "Trump Rule."
CBS reportedly refused to release those transcripts before the election and did not release them until FCC chair Brandon Carr ordered CBS to submit the transcript and the unedited video as part of a review of the incident.
Many news agencies would have released the full transcript immediately, if not the full video.
Trump will receive $16 million upfront, as noted above. There is an anticipation that there will be another allocation in the mid-eight figures set aside for advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes by the network in the future, Fox News Digital reported.
With these considerations, CBS would pay well in excess of the $15 million ABC paid Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit last year. Paramount management reportedly disputed the additional allocation. The settlement did not involve an apology, according to FOX4.
Trump's lawyer said that the President suffered "mental anguish" over the editing of the interview by CBS News, while Paramount said CBS rejected his contention that it was edited to enhance how Harris sounded. They had called Trump's case "completely without merit" and tried to have it dismissed, even while involved in settlement negotiations.
A spokesman for Trump's legal team said that with the settlement, Trump "delivers another win for the American people."
Under the settlement reached, Paramount agreed that "60 minutes" will release transcripts of future interviews of presidential candidates, "subject to redaction as required for legal and national security concerns," CBS News cited the statement as saying.
"This settlement is a cowardly capitulation by the corporate leaders of Paramount, and a fundamental betrayal of '60 Minutes' and CBS News," said Rome Hartman, a producer of the Harris interview for the show.
"The story that was the subject of this lawsuit was edited by the book and in accordance with CBS News standards."
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, a media advocacy group that says it is a Paramount shareholder, has said it would file a lawsuit in protest of a settlement was reached.
