Trump's Media War: $56M in Settlements from ABC, CBS, and Facebook
ABC News, Facebook, and Paramount's CBS have all paid millions to Trump over attempts to silence, censor, or maliciously impair his political career.
President Donald Trump has triumphed in his legal crusade against the media, securing a staggering $56 million in settlements from three major companies: ABC News, Meta (Facebook), and Paramount Global. The payouts follow a series of lawsuits in which Trump accused the media giants of defamation, censorship, and deceptive practices.
The settlements allow each of the media companies to forgo the process of discovery, where the corporations would have to turn over some potentially embarrassing documents that might further deepen American’s distrust in some of the largest news organizations on the planet.
The most recent victory came on July 1, 2025, when Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, agreed to pay $16 million to Trump's presidential library. The settlement resolves a lawsuit Trump filed in October 2024, alleging that CBS deceptively edited a "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris to favor Democrats. While CBS denied any wrongdoing, the company settled amid pressure and committed to releasing transcripts of future candidate interviews, with redactions as needed.
In CBS’s case, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) actually obtained and released the full, unedited version of the video, as well as a transcript, because the edits to make Vice President Kamala Harris appear better were so egregious.
Earlier, on January 29, 2025, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, settled with Trump for $25 million. The lawsuit, initiated in 2021, stemmed from Meta's suspension of Trump's accounts after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump claimed the suspension violated his First Amendment rights, while Meta argued it was enforcing its policies. The settlement directed $22 million to Trump's library and $3 million for legal fees.
In December 2024, ABC News, owned by Disney, paid $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump. The suit followed a March 2024 interview in which anchor George Stephanopoulos incorrectly stated that Trump had been found liable for "rape" in the E. Jean Carroll case. Although the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, not rape, ABC chose to settle and issued a statement of regret.
Documents that emerged during the course of that case showed that Stephanopoulos’s producers warned him on multiple occasions to avoid using the phrase “held liable for rape” because it was false and potentially defamatory, yet Stephanopoulos, who previously served as a press secretary for former President Bill Clinton, plowed ahead with the maliciously false slander. The 5’ 5” ABC personality falsely said Trump was found “liable for rape” at least ten times, despite his producers’ warnings.
These settlements represent a significant win for Trump, who has long battled with the media over perceived biases. The $56 million windfall will substantially boost the funding for his presidential library — a gaudy palace that will undoubtedly be clad in the tackiest amount of gold money can buy. With Trump back in power and continuing to wage war with a media that is very obviously an extension of the Democratic Party, the settlements lend legitimacy to his gripes that supposed news outlets are mere political apparatchiks.