President Donald Trump is negotiating with CBS News for a potential 60 Minutes interview, signaling a possible détente following a $16 million legal settlement in July 2025.
The settlement resolved Trump's 2024 lawsuit accusing CBS of manipulatively editing a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, which he claimed constituted election interference. The suit centered on a segment about Harris' comments on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CBS, while denying wrongdoing, agreed to pay for Trump's legal fees and a donation to his presidential library, and committed to releasing unedited transcripts for future candidate interviews.
The talks were first reported by Semafor on October 2, 2025, citing sources close to the discussions.
Trump’s relationship with 60 Minutes has been fraught. In 2020, he walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl over a dispute about COVID-19 coverage, labeling it “fake news.”
Trump’s team insists the interview air unedited, reflecting distrust in CBS’s editing practices. This aligns with CBS’s new “live-to-tape” policy and full transcript releases for major interviews, adopted after the settlement.
The talks occur amid CBS’s transition under Skydance Media’s $8 billion acquisition of Paramount in August 2025. Skydance reportedly plans to acquire The Free Press for $150 million, with its founder, Bari Weiss, a media bias critic, potentially becoming CBS News editor-in-chief. This shift toward conservative-leaning content may facilitate smoother relations with Trump’s administration.