A journalism advocacy organization has threatened to file a lawsuit against Paramount Global’s executives and board members if the company moves forward with a settlement in a news distortion case brought by President Donald Trump last year.

On Friday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) said it owned stock in Paramount and would file a derivative lawsuit against the company’s board and executives on the belief that any settlement with Trump amounts to a bribery.

Trump’s lawsuit was filed last November after Paramount-owned CBS News aired a “60 Minutes” interview with his then-political rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris. The interview contained a question-and-answer segment that Trump said was edited to make Harris look competent; hours before the broadcast, “Face the Nation” aired a fuller version of the answer in question. CBS broadcasts both programs.

Trump accused CBS News of engaging in news distortion and attempts to interfere with that year’s presidential election, which he ultimately won. Nonetheless, the case is still pending in federal court, and has resulted in a delay of Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media, an element of which requires the transfer of local TV broadcast licenses from CBS to Skydance.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) must approve the transfer of the broadcast licenses. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr recently said the agency has not made a decision on the matter, but it has become clear over time that Carr and others within the FCC are delaying action until the news distortion lawsuit is resolved.

Shari Redstone, the controlling owner of Paramount’s stock, has pushed for both sides to settle the case so the Skydance deal can close. Redstone stands to receive a substantial financial windfall from the merger, which will involve Skydance acquiring Redstone’s interest in Paramount.

Redstone and some Paramount executives have also called on CBS News to ease its scrutiny of the Trump administration and its reporting on Trump himself. That encouragement prompted long-time 60 Minutes Executive Producer Bill Owens to resign last month; earlier this week, CBS News & Stations President Wendy McMahon also left the company.

Also this week, a trio of U.S. Senators sent a letter to Redstone and others at Paramount questioning whether the company’s desire to settle its case with Trump was nothing more than an attempt to bribe the president in order to get approval from the FCC on its transaction with Skydance.

“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 senators wrote.

The FPF says Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount and CBS News is “frivolous and unconstitutional,” that its lawsuit would be intended to help recover “damages incurred due to impropriety by executives and directors.”

“Corporations that own news outlets should not be in the business of settling baseless lawsuits that clearly violate the First Amendment and put other media outlets at risk,” Seth Stern, the FPF Director of Advocacy, said in a statement. “A settlement of Trump’s meritless lawsuit may well be a thinly veiled effort to launder bribes through the court system. Not only would it tank CBS’s reputation but, as three U.S. senators recently explained, it could put Paramount executives at risk of breaking the law.”

Stern continued: “Our mission as a press freedom organization is to defend the rights of journalists and the public, not the financial interests of corporate higher-ups who turn their backs on them. When you run a news organization, you have the responsibility to protect First Amendment rights, not abandon them to line your own pockets. We hope Paramount will reconsider the dangerous path it appears to be contemplating but, if not, we are prepared to pursue our rights as shareholders, and we hope other Paramount shareholders will join us.”