Prominent lawyers join press freedom fight to thwart Paramount settlement with Trump
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With new legal muscle, the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation is upping pressure on Paramount Global to abandon efforts to settle President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit targeting CBS and “60 Minutes.”
Respected Washington litigator Abbe David Lowell this week joined the team representing the New York advocacy group, which has vowed to sue Paramount should it settle with Trump. The group owns Paramount shares.
Lowell, who has represented Hunter Biden, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, is working on the case with attorney Norm Eisen, a Trump critic who helped House Democrats with strategy during Trump’s first impeachment hearings in 2019.
Eisen is a former ambassador to the Czech Republic who served as White House ethics advisor under President Obama.
Late Thursday, the two attorneys sent a strongly worded letter to Paramount’s chairwoman and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and other board members arguing that a Trump settlement would cause “catastrophic” harm to the embattled media company.
First Amendment experts have labeled Trump’s lawsuit frivolous. But Paramount leaders are desperate to end the Trump drama, and some believe a truce could clear a path for the Federal Communications Commission to approve the company’s $8-billion sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
Paramount needs the FCC to authorize the transfer of the CBS station licenses to the Ellison family.
The prospect of a Trump settlement has carved deep divisions within Paramount, which includes CBS News and “60 Minutes.”
“Trading away the credibility of CBS’s news division to curry favor with the Trump Administration is an improper and reckless act that will irreparably damage the company’s brand and destroy shareholder value,” Lowell said in a statement late Thursday.
“The board is legally and morally obligated to protect the company, not auction off its integrity for regulatory approval,” Lowell said.
Two California Democrats have proposed a hearing to review Paramount Global’s efforts to settle Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit. ‘I haven’t seen a president act in this brazen of a manner,’ said state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park).
The FCC review of Skydance’s proposed takeover of Paramount has become a slog. Skydance and Paramount face an October deadline to finalize the sale or the deal could collapse.
Paramount, in a statement, said that it is treating the FCC review and the Trump lawsuit as separate matters.
“We will abide by the legal process to defend our case,” a corporate spokesman said.
Paramount’s lawyers entered mediation with the president’s legal team in late April, but no resolution has been reached. Paramount offered $15 million to Trump to end his suit, according to the Wall Street Journal, but the president rejected the overture and asked for more.
On Thursday, Redstone disclosed that she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and is receiving treatment. Last month, doctors removed her thyroid but cancer cells had spread to her vocal cords.
The heiress was diagnosed earlier this spring. The disclosure comes as the Paramount sale drags on amid a fight with President Trump over “60 Minutes” edits.
In their seven-page letter, Lowell and Eisen told Paramount’s leaders that, should they approve a Trump settlement to gain traction at the FCC, they would be violating their fiduciary duty to shareholders and potentially breaking federal anti-bribery statutes.
“We believe [a settlement] could violate laws prohibiting bribery of public officials, thereby causing severe and last damage to Paramount and its shareholders,” Lowell and Eisen wrote.
“To be as clear as possible, you control what happens next,” they said.
The admonition follows a similar warning from three U.S. senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). In a May 19 letter, the senators wrote that paying money to Trump to help win clearance for the Paramount sale could constitute a bribe.
“It is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act,” they wrote.
An emboldened president and his allies have launched a vigorous campaign to use levers of government to intimidate an increasingly fragmented and polarized media, experts say.
In addition, two California Democrats have proposed a state Senate hearing to examine problems with a possible Trump settlement.
The senators invited two former CBS News executives — who both left, in large part, because of the controversy — to testify before a yet-unscheduled joint committee hearing in Sacramento.
The California legislators, in their letter, said a Trump settlement could also violate the state’s Unfair Competition Law because it could disrupt the playing field for news organizations.
Earlier this week, Paramount asked shareholders to increase the size of its board to seven members at the company’s annual investor meeting next month.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation was created in 2012 to protect and defend public interest journalism.
This spring, Lowell left his former major law firm, Winston & Strawn, where he had been a partner for years. He formed his own boutique firm, Lowell & Associates, with a focus on “public interest representation in matters that defend the integrity of the legal system and protect individuals and institutions from government overreach,” according to its website.
Three Senate Democrats warned that any payment to Trump to gain favorable treatment by regulators could violate federal anti-bribery laws. Paramount’s dealings with Trump ‘raises serious concerns of corruption and improper conduct,’ they said.
Lowell’s firm includes lawyer Brenna Frey, who made a high-profile exit from another prominent law firm, Skadden Arps, after it cut a deal with Trump to avoid becoming a target. That law firm agreed to provide $100 million in free legal services.
Last month, Frey appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” to air her decision to resign from Skadden Arps.
“I was able to tell my story on CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ because of the independence of a courageous news division, which is what’s at risk now,” Frey said in a statement.
