‘60 Minutes’ shows it’s not scared off by Trump’s lawsuit and threats
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“60 Minutes” is not going easy on President Trump.
The CBS newsmagazine is embroiled in a legal battle with the president over its October interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which Trump claims was deceptively edited to help her presidential campaign. The lawsuit is an obstacle to CBS News parent Paramount Global’s proposed $8 billion sale to Skydance Media.
But since the suit was filed last fall, “60 Minutes” has remained dogged in its coverage of the Trump administration’s policies. This past Sunday was no different as correspondent Scott Pelley reported on how Trump is using executive orders to target law firms that he accuses of “weaponizing” the justice system against him.
The orders threatened to bar attorneys from courthouses and federal agencies and cancel government contracts held by the law firms and their clients. Several law firms agreed to provide free legal services for initiatives backed by the president to avoid the order.
“Targeted firms say what the president signed amounted to a corporate death penalty,” Pelley said in the report.
Marc Elias, a lawyer who successfully fought one of Trump’s court challenges of the 2020 election results, told Pelley the White House’s actions are akin to “the way in which a mob boss intimidates people in the neighborhood that he is seeking to either exact protection money from or engage in other nefarious conduct.”
Pelley also spoke with attorney Brenna Frey, who resigned in protest from her former firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom after it cut a deal with Trump to escape the order.
“I think the message it sends to the country is, power is what matters,” Frey said. “If you have power, you can exercise that power however you want. And if that’s true, why have a legal system at all? Why have law firms or lawyers at all?”
Trump did not post a reaction to the Sunday segment on Truth Social, where in recent weeks he has delivered missives blasting “60 Minutes” coverage of his administration’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, cuts to the federal government and the president’s desire to annex Greenland.
Trump had an otherwise busy night on Truth, presenting plans to put a 100% tariff on films made overseas and reopening Alcatraz prison to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders.”
Trump has encouraged his Federal Communications Chief Brendan Carr to punish CBS and its corporate parent over his long-running beef with “60 Minutes.”
The issue has also ratcheted up the pressure on controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who has pushed for a settlement to facilitate Paramount’s sale to the family headed by billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison. Redstone’s apparent willingness to appease Trump has sparked sharp protests within the company.
At the end of Sunday’s program, Scott Pelley noted the executive producer’s exit and cited corporate pressure.
Early this year, the president doubled the amount of damages he was seeking in the “60 Minutes” lawsuit to $20 billion. His legal fling attempted to steer the case away from 1st Amendment issues and instead claim “60 Minutes” was a fraudulent product that harmed viewers in Texas.
Paramount’s board, during an April 18 meeting, agreed on parameters for a possible settlement with Trump, according to two people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to comment.
Bill Owens recently resigned as executive producer of “60 Minutes,” citing increased corporate pressure over coverage. Pelley told “60 Minutes” viewers about Owens’ resignation, noting that journalists had been facing increased corporate oversight because of Paramount’s desire to win the Trump administration’s approval of the Skydance deal.
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