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Before President Donald Trump was even sworn into office for his second term, ABC News made the disturbing decision to settle a defamation lawsuit that many legal experts thought the network could have won. And now it appears other companies are following the same settlement playbook, though the payments are increasingly looking like bribes to get Trump to be nice to them.
Recall that Trump sued ABC over George Stephanopoulos saying on-air that a judge found Trump civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll, when the verdict was actually “sexual abuse.” (New York law narrowly defines rape as vaginal penetration by a penis, rather than any forcible penetration without consent.) The judge even said that the verdict did not mean that Carroll “failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed … the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.” In order for Trump to have prevailed in the suit, his lawyers would’ve had to prove that Stephanopoulos acted with “actual malice” when speaking on air—or that he made the statement knowing it was false or had substantial doubts about its accuracy. It’s a very high bar. Yet, in December, ABC and parent company Disney agreed to give $15 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle the suit.
Cut to Wednesday, when news broke that Facebook owner Meta would pay $25 million to Trump to settle a 2021 lawsuit in which he sued the company for suspending his social media accounts after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. About $22 million will go to a fund for a presidential library while the rest will go to legal fees. In news that may or may not be related, Meta is facing an anti-trust investigation by the Department of Justice for its allegedly monopolistic acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The case has been cleared to go to trial, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg would probably like that whole thing to go away. And Zuck sure has been cozying up to Trump lately! Does he perhaps also want to buy TikTok to keep it available in the U.S.? Maybe greasing some palms could make that happen.
And now, reporting suggests that Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, is in talks to settle a lawsuit. Days before the election, Trump sued the broadcast network for a laughable $10 billion, claiming its “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris was deceptively edited. (CBS did try to dismiss the case in December.)
There’s a gross reason why the company is in negotiations. The New York Times reports that “many executives at CBS’s parent company, Paramount, believe that settling the lawsuit would increase the odds that the Trump administration does not block or delay their planned multibillion-dollar merger with another company, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.” Paramount is trying to merge with entertainment company Skydance and new FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has said he would likely examine the “60 Minutes” interview as part of a review of the merger.
As authoritarianism expert Ian Bassin wrote on Bluesky: “These are not ‘settlements’ they are ‘bribes’ and should be described accurately. The reporting even explains that CBS executives believe this payment will help avert Trump blocking their merger. That’s a bribe.”
These are not “settlements” they are “bribes” and should be described accurately. The reporting even explains that CBS executives believe this payment will help avert Trump blocking their merger. Thats a bribe. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/b…
— Ian Bassin (@ianbassin.bsky.social) 2025-01-31T01:55:25.729Z
Absolutely nothing good can come from companies capitulating to Trump’s frivolous lawsuits by throwing money at him. It’s like a three-year-old continuously throwing tantrums because they know for a fact their dad will try to shut them up with candy!
It’s especially bleak for the press. At a press conference after the ABC News settlement was announced, Trump reminded people that he was already suing investigative reporter Bob Woodward, the Iowa newspaper The Des Moines Register, and its former pollster. He said he might sue other outlets, too. “I shouldn’t really be the one to do it. It should have been the Justice Department or somebody else, but I have to do it,” he said in December. “It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt.”
Lord help us.
- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) lied to Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law about her testimony making a difference in blocking the Defense Secretary nomination, including his own vote. Tillis voted to confirm Hegseth and is up for re-election next year. [Wall Street Journal]
- Meritocracy! Vice President JD Vance hired Tucker Carlson‘s son Buckley, while the daughter of Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita got a PR job working in the White House Office of Science and Technology. [ABC News/Washington Post]
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem walked out to a Tuesday DHS news conference to the Trace Adkins song “Hot Mama.” She also appeared on Fox Thursday night in full glam and long earrings wearing a Border Patrol hat and jacket like some kind of Fascism Barbie. [The Independent/Bluesky]
- Trump’s Justice Department may drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams 🙁 [New York Times]
- A man who absolutely should not be leading the Democrats right now, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that voters horrified by Trump are “aroused” in their opposition. [The Recount]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
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