House Democrats are demanding answers from the newly merged Paramount Skydance Corporation about the controversial acquisition, alleging that a bribe took place between its CEO and President Donald Trump.
In a letter sent to Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. D-N.J., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., express “significant concerns” that the media merger only took place thanks to a “bribe” to Trump in the form of “free access to between $15 and $20 million worth of public service announcements (PSAs) in exchange for FCC’s approval of the merger.” The letter refers to this possible agreement as a “side deal.”
The letter also accused the company of seeking to settle a lawsuit between itself and Donald Trump over “benign edits” in an interview with then-Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris for political and economic reasons.
“Paramount also agreed to pay $16 million to settle President Trump’s meritless lawsuit related to benign edits of an episode of “60 Minutes,” the letter read. “The settlement raises significant concerns that Donald Trump demanded and Paramount paid an illegal bribe — a $16 million payment to the President in exchange for merger approval from the FCC.”
In addition to the concerns of a bribe coming from the Oval Office is the presence of an unnamed “ombudsman,” selected by Skydance, “to police CBS’s editorial decisions” as well as “root out bias,” the lawmakers note.
The appointment of the ombudsman was a condition of the agreement with the president, meant to “align the Trump administration’s political agenda,” the lawmakers allege. The letter called the development “a poorly disguised attempt at censoring speech that contradicts the Administration’s ideals.”
Pallone, Jr. and Raskin ended the letter by requesting copies of all communications between Paramount, Skydance, and the Trump administration, including settlements and details of meetings.
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The merger comes amid broader concerns about the company acquiescing to Trump’s media directives.
In July, Paramount cancelled the long-running “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” over reasons it called “purely financial.” But the move drew ire from critics who saw it as “politically motivated,” as Colbert was a frequent critic of the president. Colbert also called the merger “a big fat bribe” on July 14, just four days before the cancellation was announced.
In January, the possibility of a settlement between Trump and CBS, owned by Paramount, was floated, but thought unlikely at the time and only beneficial to Trump.
“Hard to see CBS settling this suit if not for fear of abuses of power by Trump [admin.] regulators placing Trump’s personal interests above those of the public,” Lawfare editor Roger Parloff wrote on social media.
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