’60 Minutes’ Reportedly Under Increased Scrutiny As CBS Tries To Settle Trump Lawsuit

New details are coming to light about the pressure company leadership has put on “60 Minutes” after CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced her departure, becoming the second top executive to step down in recent weeks amid the network’s effort to reach a settlement with President Donald Trump.

George Cheeks, the co-CEO of Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, requested McMahon’s resignation over the weekend, CNBC and Status reported. The company’s board in recent weeks scrutinized both Cheeks and McMahon over the contents of upcoming “60 Minutes” broadcasts — a practice that is at odds with how the newsmagazine has operated historically.

In a memo to CBS News staff announcing her departure, McMahon said, “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.”

“It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership,” she added.

McMahon’s exit follows the resignation of Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” who cited a lack of editorial independence as a driving factor behind his decision.

“Over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it, to make independent decisions based on what was right for ‘60 Minutes,’ right for the audience,” he said at the time.

Correspondents Scott Pelley, who recently acknowledged the increased supervision the show has been under amid settlement negotiations in a message to viewers, and Lesley Stahl may not return for the 58th Season of “60 Minutes,” according to Status.

The popular newsmagazine has regularly drawn Trump’s ire, seeming to make network leadership uncomfortable.

Cheeks at one point went as far as to suggest replacing the network’s evening broadcasts on May 18, including the season finale of “60 Minutes,” with a prime-time special, before ultimately backtracking on the idea, according to Status and The New York Times.

This past Sunday’s episode was originally meant to include a report by Anderson Cooper about the Trump administration’s large-scale firings at the IRS. The episode was pulled after the show was made aware of new information that required additional reporting before airing the segment.

“Our team will continue to report on these new details and will broadcast the story in the future,” the show said in a statement to the Times.

Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS in October over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election. While media lawyers consider the case a slam dunk for CBS, Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, is said to favor a settlement as she awaits regulatory approval of Paramount’s merger with Skydance.

Both Owens and McMahon had reportedly made clear to leadership they would not agree to apologize to Trump as part of a potential settlement.

Earlier this month, the president’s lawyers upped the stakes, threatening Paramount with additional legal action over a May 4 “60 Minutes” segment about Trump targeting law firms, claiming the entire report was an effort by CBS to gain leverage in settlement talks, a source told the Times.

CNN’s Jake Tapper reported that Paramount is willing to pay up to $50 million to make the lawsuit go away.

CBS News President Tom Cibrowski on Tuesday conceded McMahon’s exit amounted to “another sign of the uncertainty we all don’t like.”

“I’m sure you’re all wondering, what comes next,” Cibrowski said on a call with staffers, according to Semafor’s Maxwell Tani. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

“Our focus must remain on the journalism first,” he continued.