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The ongoing legal showdown between President Donald Trump and Paramount Global could come to a head any day as both parties continue mediation in hopes of resolving his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News.
The lawsuit stems from the "60 Minutes" primetime election special that aired in early October, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election, which featured interviews with then-Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Trump-Vance ticket snubbed the program's invitation.
"I wish that Donald Trump had agreed to participate in that program," one veteran "60 Minutes" producer told Fox News Digital. "Because we've been doing fair but tough interviews with the candidates of both parties every four years for 50 years."
"60 Minutes" staffers spoke with Fox News Digital about the editing of the Kamala Harris interview at the center of President Trump's lawsuit. (Screenshot/CBS News)
Trump had an icy relationship with "60 Minutes" prior to 2024, most notably from his 2020 sit-down with "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl, who famously dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as it emerged during a tense exchange with the then-GOP incumbent.
In the Harris interview, she was pressed by "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker about why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn't "listening" to the Biden administration. The exchange first aired in a preview clip on "Face the Nation."
"Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded. Her remarks were immediately ridiculed as "word salad" by conservative critics.
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However, in the primetime special that aired the following night, a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president was shown to the same question.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the primetime special.
Bill Whitaker’s "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris is at the center of a high-stakes lawsuit. (Screenshots/CBS News)
The answer swap immediately erupted on social media, fueling allegations that CBS News deceptively edited Harris' comments to scrub her viral "word salad" comments from primetime television viewers. Days later, Trump filed his lawsuit alleging election interference.
"60 Minutes" producers tell Fox News Digital, "Everything was above board."
"Every ‘60 Minutes’ interview is edited," the veteran producer said. "'Face the Nation' used part of the answer, and we used a different part of the same answer. And the only reason for that was clarity and brevity."
"Any piece, unless it's live, is not airing the full answer of every question," a second "60 Minutes" producer told Fox News Digital. "And the standard at ‘60 Minutes’ is that you not mix and match questions and answers, which was not done, but is what Trump alleges on social media, which is a lie. So he's lying about what happened, and I think people hear that and think that he's telling the truth."
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Trump has repeatedly asserted in comments to reporters and on social media that CBS News took comments from a completely separate Harris response and inserted them in the exchange about Netanyahu.
The raw transcript and footage released earlier this year by the FCC showed that both sets of Harris' comments came from the same response, but CBS News had aired only the first half of her response in the "Face the Nation" preview clip and aired the second half during the primetime special.
"The fact is that standard journalism procedures were followed," the second producer said.
The "60 Minutes" producers who spoke with Fox News Digital firmly dismissed the notion that the edit was made to aid Harris and her campaign, insisting it was "completely circumstantial" and that there was no motivation behind it besides saving time for the one-hour special.
"They're both, quite frankly, not great," the second "60 Minutes" producer said of the two Harris responses that aired. "She's not great in an interview. She wasn't a great communicator… It's such a sign that this is just a political maneuver. You know, it's just Trump making noise and trying to get people to hate the media."
President Donald Trump is suing CBS News and its parent company Paramount Global for $20 billion over election interference allegations. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
What was also stressed by the "60 Minutes" journalists was the timeline between "Face the Nation" on that Sunday and the primetime special Monday night. "Face the Nation" had access to portions of the Harris footage and chose what it wanted to air that Sunday morning while "60 Minutes" was still editing the primetime special for the following night.
"That's why we don't let a 90-second answer run, because then you'd use a tenth of your story on the ‘ums' and ‘hmms'… like you ask a question in an interview and the person meanders around and then finally gets to the answer, and you're like 'Okay, that's the answer' but they were processing it," the second producer said. "If Trump wants to say that was like some agenda by '60 Minutes' to make Kamala look better, I just don't think it was, and look what happened. That's the other thing: she didn't win."
While the "60 Minutes" producers were confident that what CBS News aired followed the network's standards and practices, they couldn't say if there was any instance similar to the Harris interview where two different portions of the same answer aired separately, sparking so much confusion among viewers.
During the initial uproar, there were loud calls for CBS News to release the unedited transcript, which the network refused to at the time. Earlier this year, FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered CBS News to hand over the transcript of the interview as part of its investigation into whether the network violated the FCC's "news distortion" policy after a complaint was filed.
One producer suggested "60 Minutes" take a page from the playbook of PBS Frontline's Transparency Project, an initiative involving the publishing of full interview footage and transcripts online when their films are released.
"We might be at the point where we need to start doing that," the second "60 Minutes" producer said. "If I were the head of ‘60 Minutes,’ I would probably be thinking about some sort of transparency project like that. Like, fine, watch the whole interview."
Even with the release of the raw transcript, as the "60 Minutes" producers point out, Trump never withdrew the lawsuit and has only doubled down on the "lies."
"What Donald Trump has continued to do for months and months and over and over since we released that transcript is to make charges that are false," the veteran producer said. "He is telling lies. And it's clearly demonstrable that they are lies. And it doesn't stop him from telling them."
Bill Owens, the "60 Minutes" executive producer who resigned last month, was defiant as the Trump lawsuit loomed over CBS News.
"There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology," Owens reportedly told his staff in February. "The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done."
"60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens resigned after facing corporate pressure due to the Trump lawsuit. (Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images)
Owens left CBS News over what he said was his inability to maintain an independent newsroom at "60 Minutes." Leading up to his exit was the growing involvement of Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder who favors settling the lawsuit.
Redstone wanted to "keep tabs" on upcoming "60 Minutes" segments involving Trump and urged CBS execs to delay any sensitive reporting on Trump until after the Skydance merger deal closed. CBS News journalists, despite Paramount's denial, have openly linked her desire to settle the lawsuit to the merger deal, which seeks the FCC's approval.
"The conditions that they were attempting to oppose on [Owens] were intolerable… It was not something that any self-respecting editor would tolerate," the first "60 Minutes" producer said about his resignation. "It made all of us feel terrible because it was so wrong and so unfair."
Despite the turmoil that has rocked CBS News in recent months, including Monday's ousting of the network's CEO Wendy McMahon, the "60 Minutes" journalists say they remain committed to their work, but offered a warning to corporate honchos like Redstone if they continue to interfere regardless of the pending outcome of Trump's lawsuit.
"If pressure continues to be exerted on ‘60 Minutes’ journalists from the corporation, then I could see people leaving," the second producer said. "Like if we enter our next season, and I'm reporting on a story that involves the Trump administration and I get the sense that my story is being changed because of something that Shari Redstone likes or doesn't like, I think that for me and I think other people on the staff, that would be the line."
A "60 Minutes" producer warned of a staffer exodus if Paramount Global controlling shareholder Shari Redstone continues exerting herself into their work. (Left: (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images), Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Pressure continues to mount as Paramount mulls settling Trump's lawsuit, possibly to the tune of $30-50 million.
CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert called out the parent company for the huge payout it is currently contemplating, saying "handing over a pile of cash to a president over a frivolous lawsuit to get your broadcast license approved sounds so shady."
Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent an ominous letter to Redstone suggesting her push to settle Trump's lawsuit to benefit the Skydance merger could be interpreted as bribery.
"Under the federal bribery statute, it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act. If Paramount officials make these concessions in a quid pro quo arrangement to influence President Trump or other Administration officials, they may be breaking the law," the lawmakers told Redstone.
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A spokesperson for Paramount told Fox News Digital "This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process. We will abide by the legal process to defend our case."
A spokesperson for Redstone told Fox News Digital she recused herself from Paramount discussions of a potential settlement in February. CBS News and President Trump's attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
The prospects of an announced settlement in the coming days isn't out of reach. "60 Minutes" aired its final episode of the season this past Sunday and won't be airing new episodes until the fall, preventing someone like Scott Pelley from sounding off to viewers on the network drama like he did last month following Owens' exit.
Earlier this month, in the midst of the legal drama plaguing Paramount and CBS News, the "60 Minutes" election special at the center of it all received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Edited Interview.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.
