CBS is planning to drop a bombshell report on Donald Trump despite the ongoing $20 billion lawsuit leveled against the network by the president.
The broadcaster has said it will be running a segment on Sunday titled ‘The Rule of the Law’, which scrutinizes Trump’s executive orders against law firms.
‘On the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to wield the power of the presidency to go after his perceived enemies,’ the program description reads.
‘Now in the White House, Trump is using executive orders to target some of the biggest law firms in the country that he accuses of “weaponizing” the justice system against him.’
Taking aim at CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global, Trump’s lawsuit accuses producers of editing an October interview with Harris to sway public opinion in her favor.
The broadcast channel is also facing a probe by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into whether the interview violated ‘news distortion’ rules.
Complainants said the station broke the law by cherry picking only a portion of Harris’ answer to a question about Middle East policy to present her in a favorable light.
Sunday’s 60 Minutes segment will be hosted by veteran reporter Scott Pelley, who shocked viewers last month when he issued a blistering criticism of his own corporate bosses live on air.
CBS News is planning to drop a bombshell report on Donald Trump despite the ongoing $20 billion lawsuit with the president. Sunday’s 60 Minutes segment will be hosted by veteran reporter Scott Pelley (pictured), who criticized his corporate bosses live on air last month
CBS has said it will be running a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday titled ‘The Rule of the Law’, which scrutinizes Donald Trump’s executive orders against law firms
Pelley addressed the resignation of the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, who had stepped down the week before, telling staff he felt like he was ‘losing his journalistic independence’.
The reporter backed Owens, saying his resignation proved he had been ‘the right person’ to lead the show all along, while slamming Paramount Global, which he claimed has been taking a more active role in the show’s agenda recently.
He also suggested the interest from Paramount bosses had come amid a desperate bid to secure political favor from the Trump administration in the hopes a merger would soon be approved.
‘Bill resigned Tuesday. It was hard on him and hard on us, but he did it for us – and you,’ Pelley told viewers, before delivering the bombshell.
‘Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it. Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways.’
‘No one here is happy about it’ Pelley revealed about the extra supervision that corporate leaders are imposing. He also noted how in quitting, Owens proved he was ‘the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.’
The newscaster went on to make it clear that even though no stories have been blocked outright, Owens believed the creeping corporate oversight had crossed a red line and was undermining the very foundation of journalistic integrity.
The debacle has thrown the network into disarray – with the executive producer of 60 Minutes Bill Owens (pictured) resigning last month, saying he was ‘losing his journalistic independence’
‘None of our stories has been blocked,’ Pelley declared, ‘but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it.
‘Stories we’ve pursued for 57 years were often controversial, lately the Israel-Gaza war and the Trump administration. Bill made sure they were accurate and fair—he was tough that way.’
Owens, 58, had been with CBS News for decades and served as only the third executive producer in 60 Minutes’ 57-year history since 2019.
In his resignation letter, Owens cited corporate interference as the breaking point, saying it had ‘become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it – to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.’
Owens – a respected figure who recently helped overhaul CBS’s Evening News – went on to promise that ’60 Minutes will continue to cover the new administration,’ and ‘future’ ones as well.
‘The show is too important to the country,’ Owens ultimately declared, weeks after sources told DailyMail.com how the bigwig was ‘feeling the pressure’ brought by the Trump lawsuit.
He reportedly added during a ’60 Minutes’ staff meeting last Tuesday: ‘It’s clear the company is done with me.
‘It has to continue, just not with me as the executive producer,’ Owens said.
In Trump’s lawsuit, both parties have agreed to enter mediation. It coincides with a planned $8.4 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance, which requires approval from the FCC.
Though the agency is prohibited from censorship or infringing the First Amendment rights of media, broadcasters cannot intentionally distort the news.
Pelley claimed the company has taken a more active role in the show’s journalism to secure political favor from the Trump administration
CBS previously said the complaint aims to turn ‘the FCC into a full-time censor of content’ which would result in an unconstitutional role and an impossible one for the agency.
In January, the FCC’s chair Brendan Carr reinstated complaints about the 60 Minutes interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney’s ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump.
It also reinstated complaints against Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on ‘Saturday Night Live’ shortly before the election.
Carr said he has not decided whether to open those other complaints for public comment.
Last month, Carr opened an investigation into the diversity practices of Disney and ABC, saying they may violate U.S. equal employment opportunity regulations.
‘There’s some concerning things that we’ve seen there,’ Carr said.
