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#Settlement discussions between #Paramount reps & #Trump are now underway….

#ShariRedstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, strongly supports the effort to settle…. Redstone stands to clear billions of dollars on the sale of Paramount… in a deal w/ #Skydance, an entertainment company backed by the #billionaire #LarryEllison & run by his son #DavidEllison.

A settlement would be an extraordinary concession by a major US #media company to a sitting president, especially in a case in which there is NO EVIDENCE that the network got #facts wrong or damaged the plaintiff’s reputation.

It could also cause an uproar within #CBS News & among the #60Minutes staff. #Journalists at the network have expressed deep concern about the notion of their parent company settling….

Edward Paltzik, #Trump’s lawyer on the case, wrote in a statement on Thurs: “Real accountability for #CBS & #Paramount will ensure that the president is compensated for the *harm* done to him, & will deter the *Fake News* from further *distorting* the *facts* to advance a partisan agenda. President Trump looks forward to seeing this case through to a *just* conclusion.”

[read: nothing, real news, reporting, truth, unjust]

Regardless of the lawsuit’s merit, #Trump’s admin wields leverage. #Paramount owns broadcasting licenses, & it needs the blessing of the #FCC to complete its planned merger w/ #Skydance.

People inside Paramount have been expecting the FCC, which is now led by a Trump appointee, #BrendanCarr, to request that #CBS News hand over an unedited transcript of its interview w/ #KamalaHarris…. CBS had refused previous requests from Trump’s lawyers to release the transcript.

#BredanCarr has said that the #FCC would probably look into the #60Minutes interview as part of its review of the #Paramount merger.

#Trump’s demonization of the #news #media is a centerpiece of his political rise, & he has repeatedly clashed w/ 60 Minutes, which is the country’s most popular TV news show.

#Trump declined to be interviewed by the program during last year’s presidential race. In 2020, Trump…[stormed out of] an interview w/ #LesleyStahl after becoming irritated w/her questions; his campaign then posted unfiltered footage from the interview online [which just showed him acting like a spoiled petulant man-baby].

The WSJ earlier reported that #Paramount executives were discussing a possible #settlement internally. If the company reaches such a deal, it would be at least the third major company in recent weeks to #settle a lawsuit brought by #Trump.

Last month, #ABC News paid $15M to resolve Trump’s *defamation* lawsuit against the network & its anchor #GeorgeStephanopoulos, who had…said that the president had been found “liable for #rape” in a civil trial in NY.…

[technically #Trump was found liable for sexual abuse, though the judge in the case repeatedly said Trump raped #EJeanCarroll in his written ruling.]

#GiftArticle

Judge clarifies: Yes, Trump was found to have raped E. Jean Carroll

https://wapo.st/4jvGXum

The other major company in recent weeks to settle with #Trump is #MarkZuckerberg’s #Meta, the parent company of #Facebook & #Instagram. Wednesday Meta said it had agreed to a $25 million #settlement to resolve a lawsuit that Trump filed after the #socialmedia networks suspended his accounts in 2021 after he incited the #Jan6 #insurrection by spreading #disinformation & encouraging #PoliticalViolence.

@Nonilex “make obeisance to”