60 Minutes anchors revolt as CBS caves to Trump in a $20B showdown, facing FCC hurdles and internal mutiny. Sherry Redstone settles a $35M-$50M dispute despite Bill Owens' resignation and Leslie Stahl's First Amendment accusations regarding the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. While Democrats threaten bribery allegations and Skydance plans restructuring with Jeff Zucker, the merger risks severing ties with high-profile talent. Ultimately, this "damned if you do" scenario exposes deep fractures between corporate survival, journalistic integrity, and political leverage in modern media. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, Qwen/Qwen3-ForcedAligner-0.6B, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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CBS News In A Tough Spot00:07:06
Sherry Redstone is trying to get a deal done with Skydance.
And it is believed, and this is not really fair, right, but it's believed that if they can't actually resolve things with Donald Trump vis-a-vis 60 Minutes and the lawsuit he leveled against them, then they're not going to get to first base in terms of FCC approval for the deal.
But simultaneously, you see there's a catch here.
If they do settle for a lot of money, the FCC can come back just as they did to Disney and Bob Iger and ABC and say, hey, you know, nobody really trusts you, so what are you doing in the news business anyway?
Here's proof.
You just settled Georgie Porgy's thing, Stephanopoulos, on the weekend for 16 million bucks, right?
So now if they settle this for 35 or it's reported even $50 million, can the FCC then say, hey, you know, forget it.
We're not going to really renew any of these affiliations all around the country with your CBS affiliates because it is clear your news division is so freaking messed up that you had to settle this massive thing.
So it's like, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
And you got this heiress there, Sherry, who's like, for goodness sakes.
Can we just sell this thing and move on with it?
Because, you know, she's got some big tax bills, apparently in the hundreds of millions of dollars coming up on the Redstone estate.
She needs to get moving with this thing.
Not to mention, like, the company's basically done, right?
Like, unless they find a way to innovate, unless they find a way to move forward.
Here's a picture of Sherry Redstone.
The Trump people appear to be willing to settle for less, but even that amount worries the Paramount people.
This is the reported $35 million that might be the amount of money that is agreed to for that CBS Trump.
Now, this is a story in the New York Post today by my friend Charlie Gasparino, a great reporter.
And he's basically got some sources saying, look, you know, Trump is holding up for the 50 million.
Maybe they could get to the 35 million, but you get a problem here because people are saying, well, could that actually open her to bribery allegations?
The Democrats are actually threatening that, you guys.
They're saying, okay, if CBS makes this settlement, is it actually this merger?
Is this going to come back to haunt them?
Because they know that.
She stands to make a lot of money, $2 billion, actually.
She's recused herself officially from any of these negotiations, even though it's kind of obvious she wants it to go through.
And so now they're in this kind of just no man's zone, right?
No man's land.
They got the whole mutiny going on at CBS where the executive producer decides to resign.
And then his talent, what's his name, Scotty Pelly there, goes on air and says, ah, you know, it's all bad.
And now, and now Leslie Stahl's also sounding the alarm.
Another.
Long time stalwart of the 60 Minutes stable.
You can't make it up.
This is a disaster for Paramount.
It's a disaster for CBS.
It's a disaster for the entire news division for 60 Minutes.
And it all goes back to this moment in time.
You know it.
I know it.
The President of the United States and his lawyers know it.
Watch.
But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.
Well, Bill.
The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.
But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.
We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.
Okay.
Well, it was like magic, right?
That's what you call a good editor.
I mean, you got to give him some props.
Whoever edited that one, the guy's like a magician because he took Kamala Harris's word salad and actually turned it into something rather coherent.
I mean, credit were credits too.
Just saying.
Just saying.
Anyway, so because of all of this and because of a few other things along the way, CBS News is in a very, very tough spot.
And Sherry Redstone needs to get this deal done.
She's damned if she does.
She's damned if she doesn't.
What happens to the company?
I'll tell you, I would not be investing in it right now.
I'm not sure that the deal gets done.
And even if it does, I wouldn't be surprised.
I mean, they're threatening.
The Democrats are threatening to open up these bribery allegations.
I mean, it's perfect for them, right?
Because then they're going to say, oh, you know, Trump got $35 or $50 million, whatever it turns out to be, all because maybe he would say, okay, with the FC's approval of the deal.
So in some ways, you know, if you're Trump, you're like you're sitting there telling, hey, Brandon, Brandon Carr, head of the SEC, maybe give that extra super duper scrutiny.
And then coupled with the fact that, hey, Brandon can say, gee, you guys aren't a very good news division because you had to pay the 35 or 50 million bucks.
You have a bit of a mess, a good old-fashioned mess, and one that Leslie Stahl, one of the 60 Minutes reporters, is speaking out about all as the autopan hearings go on right now on Capitol Hill.
We're going to get to that in a moment.
But first, Leslie Stahl.
taking on Sherry Redstone.
This was interesting.
I mean, the inmates really run in the asylum because when you're going to sound off about your boss over and over again, I think at some point your boss is going to say, gee, this isn't really working for us, right?
You had the head of CBS, Wendy McMahon, and then you had Bill Owens, the EP at 60 Minutes.
You had Scott Pelly knocking them all on the air.
And now 60 Minutes reporter Leslie Stahl says she's angry with Sherry Redstone.
Very angry, kind of furious because somehow her First Amendment rights are being threatened.
And she does not know if basically you can ever have a news division that's for-profit again.
Here we go.
Here's the quote.
She spoke to the New York Times, I guess, in this particular, forgive me.
Is this the New York Times?
Yeah, I think she was talking to them in a podcast.
Quote, to have a news organization come under corporate pressure, to have a news organization told by a corporation, do this, do that with your story, change this, change that, don't run that piece.
I mean, it steps on the First Amendment.
It steps on the freedom of the press, Stahl said.
Quote, it steps on what we stand for.
It makes me question whether any corporation should own a news operation.
It's very disconcerting.
Very disconcerting.
But you know, I'll tell you what was disconcerting.
The fact that she was never actually willing to follow up on all those tips about the Hunter Biden laptop and sat there with a straight face trying to tell one Donald Trump that he was completely misguided and completely wrong because there was no way that that was anything other than misinformation, right?
Fed to you, spoon-fed, courtesy of Rudy Giuliani and the Russians.
Questioning Corporate Ownership Of News00:05:57
Remember, watch.
Leslie.
And you think it's the biggest issue to campaign on?
I think it's one of the biggest scandals I've ever seen.
And you don't cover it.
You want to talk about it?
Well, because it can't be verified.
You want to talk about insignificant things.
I'm telling you.
Of course it can be verified.
Excuse me.
They found the laptop.
Leslie.
Leslie.
What can't be verified?
The laptop.
Why do you say that?
Even the family hasn't.
The family on the laptop.
Can't be verified.
Can't be verified.
He's like, what the heck are you talking about?
For five days, he's gone into hiding.
He's preparing for your debate.
Oh, it's taken him five days to prepare?
I doubt it.
I doubt it.
Okay.
All right.
So let's get back to the name.
Let's get back.
Let's get back to business.
Anyway, that was quite a moment.
And I would just say this you know what?
That's bogus.
I mean, look, I used to work there.
Funny.
We're talking about Walmart.
I can remember once calling Walmart in my CBS Evening News piece a dollar store.
Because on Wall Street, that's what analysts refer to Walmart as it's a dollar store.
You just call them dollar stores and it's one big bracket right, and you'd put Target in there and Walmart and, and the dollar stores in there, and and it's because they're sort of discount stores.
And I got a call from management saying, oh my gosh, did you just refer to Walmart as a dollar store?
You know, they are our biggest sponsor indeed they, they had a big sponsorship at the time.
And i'm like yeah uh, that's what they're called, that's like you know.
Look, I came from a Wall Street background.
That's what analysts call them, all right?
And they were like, oh my gosh.
And they were so terrified that Walmart was going to call and be all upset.
So I would just say that, you know, as much as Leslie wants to pretend like management never, ever cares, that's not entirely true, okay?
Again, don't bite the hand that feeds you.
I think that that exists within news organizations.
It's one of the reasons why we're so happy to be over here, right?
Because we don't have to deal with that, you know what, anymore.
But she's dealt with it.
Come on.
You know, she's a big girl, I'm sure.
She has had her share of run-ins before, but maybe it just never got to this level.
It never got to the point where you had to have the president of the news division, the head of the 60 Minutes show resign.
You've never had that happen before.
And now Sherry Redstone is like, because you know what?
She has to, wants to save her company.
And it's not clear that she's going to be able to.
Again, because she's damned if she does, and she's damned if she doesn't.
So I would just say this entire deal right now is very much in jeopardy, which means the future of 60 Minutes and CBS News is in jeopardy because I'm not sure that financially they're going to make it.
The other thing I'd point out is even if it does happen, they still may not make it because they're talking about doing a total redo of 60 Minutes if this deal closes.
Larry Allison's son, who owns Skydance, is working with a company called, interestingly, Red Bird Partners.
And they're talking about bringing in a former NBC guy, Jeff Shell, I believe, to run and rehabilitate the news division at CBS.
Okay, here we go.
It's actually, this was in New York Post, I believe.
So they're going to face this redo.
So Skydance is continuing to drop plans for a massive restructuring of the media properties, including CBS, once considered the crown jewel of the Redstone Empire for its top-rated shows, sports, and influential news programming, such as 60 Minutes.
And this would actually be really kind of funny because Redbird Capital, which is being brought in to run the news division by Skydance, is run and operated by none other than one.
You see who I'm looking at?
You see who I'm looking at?
I mean, he knows a thing or two about the news business.
He really does not like Donald Trump.
one Jeff Sucker.
So this news division is totally damned if it does, damned if he, I mean, there is like no way out, okay?
If they do the deal and they settle for $35 or $50 million, Paramount, with Donald Trump for the library or whatever, and maybe they'll throw in some public service announcements they announced too with that.
If they do that deal, well, then the FCC can come back and say, gee, we're not going to allow for a affiliations, all these affiliates, why are they paying you all these fees?
Because your programming is garbage.
And you know how we know it's garbage?
We got the proof.
You just had to settle this deal because you tried to influence a presidential election.
Like they have that on record.
So that's a big problem.
The flip side is the Democrats are threatening these bribery charges.
So they're going to say, well, Sherry Redstone, the only reason you guys did this and the board is terrified they're going to get sued is because you wanted to get this deal done.
Now, if they don't get the deal done, they're going to continue to wallow in nothingness.
Okay, so they're not going to have any money.
They're not going to have any capital.
The place is kaput.
And then again, if they get the deal done, you got Jeff Zucker running the news division with Red Bird Capital and the other NBC guys.
So I don't think that's going to go well.
You have only to look at CNN.
Hey, maybe he's planning some big revamp that we just haven't thought of yet.
But again, I think the action is over here.
Is it not?
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It's very exciting here on YouTube.
Just little old us, right?
So the medium is changing.
And I do think if Jeff gets in there, he's probably going to make a decision that he's not going to pay the big salaries of Leslie Stoller or Scott Pelly or any of these people.
60 Minutes in and of itself is a worthwhile brand.
CBS is a brand, but you're going to have to rehabilitate big time, okay?
Because this company is facing a heck of a lot of trouble.