9 Senators Urge Shari Redstone’s Paramount to Fight Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ Lawsuit: Settlement Would Be ‘Grave Mistake’

"Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism," the group, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, write The post 9 Senators Urge Shari Redstone’s Paramount to Fight Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ Lawsuit: Settlement Would Be ‘Grave Mistake’ appeared first on TheWrap.

May 7, 2025 - 19:53

9 Senators Urge Shari Redstone’s Paramount to Fight Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ Lawsuit: Settlement Would Be ‘Grave Mistake’

Nine U.S. Senators urged Paramount and chairwoman Shari Redstone to fight Donald Trump’s lawsuit against “60 Minutes,” saying in an open letter Wednesday that a settlement would be a “grave mistake” that would amount to capitulation to “authoritarianism.”

The signatories, including Bernie Sanders, Richard Durbin and Elizabeth Warren, are made up entirely of Democrats and independents who caucus with them. The entire letter is below:

Dear Ms. Redstone:

As you know, in a blatant attempt to intimidate the media and those who speak out against him, President Trump sued CBS for $20 billion because of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris he did not like.

In March, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, did the right thing by filing two motions to dismiss Trump’s case, calling it “an affront to the First Amendment” that “is without basis in law or fact” and asserting that: “In our system, the remedy for disagreement with political speech one does not like is counter-speech not court-enforced damages under the guise of commercial regulations.”

We, and most legal experts who have reviewed this case, could not agree more. This lawsuit is 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. Freedom of the press is what sets us apart from tin pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.

Unfortunately, it appears that Paramount is now seeking to settle this case with Trump for as much as $75 million. In our view, that would be a grave mistake. We urge you and Paramount’s board of directors to reconsider.

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.

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.

As Walter Cronkite, who was described as the most trusted man in America, once said: “Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.”

Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy. Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism.

Sincerely,