Staff of CBS’ 60 Minutes are ready to resign, but Anderson Cooper is trying to give them reasons to stay.
The team behind the iconic news show is threatening to leave as parent company Paramount looks to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over an October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to political newsletter Puck, Cooper is trying to convince staff to stay after some signed a letter protesting the anticipated settlement while threatening to go public or resign.
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Cooper, who is also a 60 Minutes correspondent, advised staff against resigning at the all-hands meeting on Monday, noting that there are few other media outlets doing the investigative work that the show is known for, Puck reported. Lesley Stahl and Bill Whitaker were also in attendance, according to The New York Times.
Scott Pelley, another 60 Minutes reporter, also reportedly told staff that Trump could twist the narrative and frame their resignations as firings.
CBS journalists earlier raised the alarm after reports indicated that Paramount was in talks to settle the $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump in November, claiming that the network edited its broadcast to make Harris appear more favorable.
The president took issue with a portion of the interview where Harris responded to a question about tensions in the Middle East. A CBS preview showed Harris giving an answer different from the one that ended up in the full-length broadcast.
CBS News said in a statement at the time that Trump’s claims were “false.” “The interview was not doctored and 60 Minutes did not hide any part of Vice President Kamala Harris’s answer to the question at issue,” it said.
In the Monday meeting, Bill Owens, the show’s longtime executive producer, is said to have refused to apologize for the segment, backing the edit.
“There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology,” Owens said, two people who heard his remarks told the Times. “The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done.
“The edit is perfectly fine; let’s put that to bed so we can get on with our lives,” Owens added.
The Times earlier reported that Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, was keen to settle the suit in the hopes that a multibillion-dollar merger with entertainment firm Skydance would push through.
Paramount needs permission from the Federal Communications Commission, run by staunch Trump ally Brendan Carr, to complete the merger since the agency owns the broadcasting licenses involved.
A CBS spokesman told the Times that the network had sent an unedited transcript, along with camera feeds of the Harris interview, to the FCC Monday night at the agency’s request.
The FCC earlier announced investigations into NPR and PBS’ airing of commercials. Other major companies like Meta and ABC News have also coughed up millions of dollars to settle their own lawsuits with Trump.
