Dan Rather on '60 Minutes' Settlement: 'A Sellout to Extortion by the President' [View all]
Source: Daily Beast
Updated Jul. 3 2025 4:03AM EDT
Published Jul. 3 2025 3:44AM EDT
Dan Rather has slammed Paramount Global’s $16 million legal settlement with the Trump administration as “extortion by the president” and a “kneeling-down and saying, ‘Yes, Sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners.” The legendary CBS News anchor told Variety on Wednesday he was “disappointed” but “not surprised” at the decision to settle the lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
Trump had demanded $20 billion, claiming the network had distorted the Harris interview by editing a garbled sentence of her talking about Israel’s war in Gaza. 60 Minutes claimed the editing was standard journalistic practice and done purely for timing reasons.
The settlement means Paramount will pay $16 million to Trump’s presidential library, but the media company does not need to apologize. The fee matches the sum Disney paid Trump’s library last year to settle his defamation suit over an interview with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Rather, 93, told Variety of the situation involving his former network, “It’s a sad day for journalism. It’s a sad day for 60 Minutes and CBS News. I hope people will read the details of this and understand what it was. It was distortion by the president and a kneeling-down and saying, ‘Yes, Sir,’ by billionaire corporate owners.”
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/dan-rather-on-60-minutes-settlement-a-sellout-to-extortion-by-the-president/
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