Exclusive | Paramount delays $35M settlement with Trump as media giant fears bribery backlash: sources
A potential $35 million settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS affiliate has been delayed after the company’s management continued to fear a potential legal backlash, The Post has learned.Paramount’s hesitancy to make a deal prompted members of Trump’s legal team to maintain its initial bargaining position and demand even more money to end the protracted legal dispute, according to people close to the matter.The two sides, however, remain in active settlement negotiations, according to a regulator filing.A potential deal breakthrough is always a possibility.The $35 million settlement was recently floated and considered by both sides, according to two sources, as negotiations over the $20 billion lawsuit enter their sixth month.
The impasse threatens to throttle a bigger prize — media heiress Shari Redstone’s plan to sell Paramount to independent studio Skydance.Approval of the deal by Trump’s regulators at the Federal Communications Commission is seen as contingent on settlement of the case, people at Paramount tell The Post.Trump legal reps and officials deny that the two issues are related, but Paramount executives are concerned that any large settlement would be considered a bribe since the fate of the $8 billion Paramount-Skydance merger is at stake.A settlement for $35 million would have been a 30% haircut from the original $50 million Trump’s legal advisers had tried to squeeze out of the company to end the lawsuit filed in Texas federal court last year, as The Post previously reported.“(The Trump people) appeared to be willing to settle for less, but even that amount worries the Paramount people,” one deal insider told The Post.A source close to the Trump legal team denied that it was on the verge of settling for $35 million.“We have a strong case,” the source said.A Paramount spokesman declined comment.
A legal rep for Trump didn’t return a request for comment.A Redstone rep didn’t return a request fo...