Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren castigated Paramount International for its introduced $16 million cost to President Trump to settle a “meritless” lawsuit — and stated the father or mother firm of CBS “needs to be ashamed of placing its earnings over unbiased journalism.”

Warren, the senior U.S. senator from Massachusetts, once more raised the concept Paramount’s cost to Trump represents an unlawful bribe. On Wednesday, she referred to as for an investigation into “whether or not or not any anti-bribery legal guidelines have been damaged.”

“With Paramount folding to Donald Trump on the similar time the corporate wants his administration’s approval for its billion-dollar merger, this might be bribery in plain sight,” Warren stated in an announcement. “Paramount has refused to offer solutions to a congressional inquiry, so I’m calling for a full investigation into whether or not or not any anti-bribery legal guidelines have been damaged.”

Trump sued CBS and Paramount in October 2024, alleging that “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Kamala Harris in a method that violated a Texas client safety legislation by distorting voters’ impressions of her. Authorized consultants have stated Trump’s go well with was baseless and that CBS was protected underneath the First Modification. Below the settlement, Paramount and CBS is not going to subject a “assertion of apology or remorse,” as Trump’s attorneys had been pushing for.

In Might 2025, Warren, together with Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) wrote a letter to Shari Redstone, non-executive chair of Paramount International and its controlling shareholder, saying that Paramount could also be partaking in probably unlawful conduct involving the Trump Administration “in alternate for approval of its merger with Skydance Media.”

Wyden, in social media posts Wednesday, echoed Warren’s sentiments. “Paramount simply paid Trump a bribe for merger approval,” he wrote. “When Democrats retake energy, I’ll be first in line calling for federal prices. Within the meantime, state prosecutors ought to make the company execs who offered out our democracy reply in courtroom, immediately.”

Paramount International has beforehand insisted that Trump’s lawsuit “is totally separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval course of. We are going to abide by the authorized course of to defend our case.” FCC chair Brendan Carr additionally has claimed Trump’s lawsuit isn’t associated to the company’s deal approval, though he has stated a conservative group’s “information distortion” criticism over the “60 Minutes” Harris phase would probably be a part of the Skydance-Paramount evaluate.

Below the Paramount-Trump settlement, the $16 million is not going to be “paid straight or not directly to President Trump,” in keeping with Paramount. As an alternative, that cash will go towards his presidential library, the corporate stated.

On Wednesday, Warren stated she plans to introduce new laws to “rein in corruption by means of presidential library donations.”

“This settlement exposes a evident want for guidelines to limit donations to sitting presidents’ libraries,” she stated. “I’ll quickly introduce new laws to rein in corruption by means of presidential library donations. The Trump administration’s stage of sheer corruption is appalling and Paramount needs to be ashamed of placing its earnings over unbiased journalism.”

In an announcement in Might responding to the senators’ letter, a White Home spokesman stated, “Democrats on Capitol Hill are rising more and more determined and unhinged by the day, and this newest act of fake outrage reveals the depth of their despair. Anybody who critically believes the President might be bribed by anybody, particularly a liberal and notoriously unreliable establishment like Paramount, lacks the intelligence to carry public workplace.”