Trump rejects Paramount's $15 million offer to settle CBS News lawsuit, demands apology

Fox News Digital confirmed that Trump rejected a $15 million offer to settle his lawsuit, according to a source familiar with the matter. The president's legal team is also demanding at least $25 million and an apology from CBS News. Trump's attorneys even floated another lawsuit against the company.

Trump's settlement rejection was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. 

Last October, Trump sued CBS News and Paramount for $10 billion over allegations of election interference involving the "60 Minutes" interview of then-Vice President Kamala Harris that aired weeks before the presidential election (the amount has since jumped to $20 billion).

However, when the same question aired during a primetime special on the network, Harris had a different, more concise response. Critics at the time accused CBS News of deceitfully editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the Democratic nominee from further backlash leading up to Election Day.

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. 

CBS News has denied any wrongdoing and stands by the broadcast and its reporting. 

Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder who recused herself from settlement discussions in February, made clear that she wanted to settle Trump's lawsuit in hopes of clearing the pathway for Paramount's multibillion-dollar planned merger with Skydance Media, which seeks approval from the Trump administration's FCC. 

However, there has been newsroom drama in recent months involving Redstone's efforts to "keep tabs" on the network's reporting of Trump, at least until the merger closes. That led to the abrupt resignation of "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, who claimed he could no longer maintain editorial independence.  

Also fueling settlement rumors was last week's ousting of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon, who cited disagreement with the company behind her departure.  

"With that done, power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives. They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality. Diversity is now described as illegal. Equity is to be shunned. Inclusion is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. There's nothing new in this," he continued.