A trio of U.S. Senators have expressed concern that Paramount Global may have violated federal anti-bribery laws with respect to the entertainment giant’s ongoing lawsuit involving President Donald Trump.
The letter was sent on Tuesday by Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who suggested that Paramount “may be engaging in improper conduct involving the Trump Administration in exchange for approval of its merger with Skydance Media.”
The contents of the letter were first reported by the Wall Street Journal early Tuesday afternoon.
Paramount is in the middle of an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, a transaction that will provide a financial windfall to Shari Redstone and her company National Amusements, which is Paramount’s largest shareholder.
Paramount is also in the middle of a civil lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over an interview aired on “60 Minutes” involving his once-political rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in the lead up to last year’s election. Trump accused Paramount and its subsidiary CBS News of engaging in election interference and news distortion by editing one of Harris’ answers. A fuller version of the answer aired hours before the 60 Minutes broadcast on the CBS political affairs program “Face the Nation.”
The lawsuit is standing in the way of the merger being completed: One element of the transaction requires the transfer of broadcast TV licenses held by CBS and Paramount to Skydance Media, which requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC has declined to act on the matter until the legal case is resolved.
In recent weeks, news reports have emerged that Redstone encouraged the softening of certain news reports about the Trump administration at 60 Minutes and elsewhere. Paramount executives have expressed similar sentiments. The matter led to the resignation of long-time 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens last month; on Monday, the President of CBS News & Stations Wendy McMahon announced she was leaving the company.
Paramount’s coverage of the Trump administration and the subsequent fallout on its proposed merger with Skydance received renewed attention over the weekend after it was the subject of a segment on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” which focused on Trump’s relationship with the news media.
On Tuesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Paramount was considering paying $30 million to $50 million to settle the lawsuit, according to unnamed sources.
Officially, Paramount and CBS News have denied any wrongdoing and, until Trump was sworn into office in January, had vowed to fight the lawsuit. In the months since, executives have taken a slightly different approach, opening themselves up to the idea of a settlement if it helped grease the wheels on the approval of the license transfers at the FCC, which remains its last hurdle before the Skydance deal closes.
The letter sent by the three senators revealed the Paramount-Skydance merger and the subsequent fallout within CBS’s editorial operations has gained significant attention on Capitol Hill. But two of the three senators are Democrat (Sanders is an Independent whose political ideology leans progressive), and with Republicans having a majority in both chambers of Congress, Paramount and Redstone are unlikely to be compelled to provide answers to their inquiries.
