Donald Trump has taken legal action against CBS, alleging they manipulated Kamala Harris’s statements to benefit her 2024 election campaign.
Wendy McMahon has resigned from her position as president and CEO of CBS News amid increasing internal conflict stemming from a $20 billion lawsuit filed by Donald Trump. The former US president alleges that CBS interfered in the 2024 election by favoring Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent.
McMahon, who assumed her role in August of the previous year, resigned from her post as CEO of CBS News and Stations on Monday, stating that she and the company had disagreements about the future direction.
The resignation is linked to Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against the network, which is based on an October 2024 interview with Kamala Harris. CBS released two different versions of the interview, one featuring an unclear response regarding Middle East policy, while the other presented a more straightforward and concise answer.
Trump described the interview as nonsensical and accused CBS of intentionally altering Harris’s remarks to improve her image before the 2024 presidential election. While CBS acknowledged editing the interview, they maintained that the changes were made for clarity and were consistent with standard journalistic practices.
Although legal experts consider Trump’s lawsuit unlikely to succeed, it is seen as a major obstacle to the merger between Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, and Skydance Media, which requires federal approval. Paramount is reportedly considering a legal settlement with Trump to avoid further delays.
McMahon’s departure follows the resignation of Bill Owens, a senior producer at CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’, who left in late April, citing a decline in journalistic integrity. Both McMahon and Owens were reportedly against the settlement.
Commenting on the lawsuit and Owens’s resignation, ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley stated that the network has significantly changed its oversight of stories. While asserting that “none of our stories has been blocked,” he also noted that the former producer “felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”