CBS News executives are have drawn a “red line” in the sand and are refusing to apologize or admit wrongdoing as part of a settlement of President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against Paramount, CBS’ parent company, over the “selectively edited” Vice President Harris interview that aired on “60 Minutes” in October, according to a new report.

Furthermore, the same report alleges that the former NBC executive who will oversee Paramount once it’s acquired by Skydance, Jeff Shell, has injected himself into the situation and months ago told CBS News executives to release a transcript of the interview. This is potentially illegal – and could pose “regulatory issues,” according to the report in Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter. In a corporate acquisition or merger, incoming executives are generally proscribed from interfering with a company’s operations until the transaction is consummated.

Indeed, Mr. Shell’s alleged involvement in internal deliberations in an attempt to put Mr. Trump’s lawsuit to rest and ensure the Skydance merge goes through could backfire if federal regulators determine his actions crossed into illegal coordination, or “gun jumping,” before a merger was approved – which could open the door for increased scrutiny from the FCC.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Trump alleges “60 Minutes” edited the interview to remove what critics call a “word salad” from Ms. Harris’ answer to a question about Israel in an attempt to make her sound coherent at a time when she was under fierce criticism for avoiding news interviews and speaking nonsense. “60 Minutes,” Mr. Trump maintains, actively sought to aid Ms. Harris’ election bid.

CBS News maintains there was nothing improper about its editing choices and that they were made due to time restraints. Left-wing legal scholars have called the lawsuit “meritless.” However, thus far, the Texas-based judge overseeing the case has declined to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed in the Northern District of Texas, where courts have become known for rulings that tend to favor conservatives.

In recent months, CNN and ABC News both settled defamation lawsuits brought against them in Florida, where judges and juries are less tolerant of New York-based, liberal media organizations.

As scandal engulfed CBS over the Harris interview in October – after alternate versions of the interview showed up on several CBS News platforms, perhaps by error, alerting the public to the selective editing of the “60 Minutes” broadcast –  Mr. Shell reportedly tried to prevent the situation from spiraling into a crisis. He called a meeting with the chief executive of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, and the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, where he pressured them to release an unedited transcript interview to appease Mr. Trump, Mr. Darcy reports. 

The push to release the transcript reportedly “set off alarm bells” and “disturbed” Ms. McMahon and Mr. Owens, who felt it was inappropriate corporate meddling in journalistic matters. Making matters worse for the two news executives is that Mr. Shell is not even their official boss yet and should not, in their view, have been involved at all.

Ms. McMahon and Mr. Owens reportedly won over Mr. Shell to the view that the transcript should not be released. The network refused to do so until February, after the FCC re-opened a “news-distortion” investigation and ordered it to release the transcript. 

Mr. Shell’s intervention reportedly did not end with the issue of the transcript. Instead, Mr. Darcy wrote that his “pressure” has “not only persisted but intensified” in the light of the 47th president’s lawsuit.

Mr. Shell and the outgoing head of Paramount, Shari Redstone, firmly believe that the best way to handle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit is a settlement, which they believe could help ensure the merger with Skydance is approved by the federal government. 

Multiple reports have previously indicated that Ms. Redstone has been pushing for a settlement. However, some executives fear that aside from setting a precedent of trying to appease the president, a settlement could come with legal risks as it could be seen as a bribe to secure approval of the merger deal. 

Mr. Trump confirmed the settlement talks to reporters last week during his first Cabinet meeting, adding that he believes any settlement deal would need to have a hefty price tag because he thinks the “60 Minutes” edits could have cost him the election, though he did not offer an example of an amount that would satisfy him.

One way to avoid the appearance of the settlement being a bribe (which could expose CBS executives to possible criminal charges) would be for CBS News to admit wrongdoing in the way it edited Ms. Harris’ interview, something that Ms. McMahon and Mr. Owens have been strongly against. Mr. Darcy reports it is now a “red line” they will not cross.

In a meeting last month that was reported by the New York Times, Mr. Owens told staff, “There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology. 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,” he said, referring to releasing the transcript, which the FCC had just ordered CBS to do.

However, the release of the transcript did not diminish the controversy. While the mainstream media claimed the transcripts showed no unethical behavior on the part of CBS, conservative critics pointed out that the edit clearly removed the first part of Ms. Harris’ answer, which was “word salad,” deceptively creating the impression that she immediately answered the question about Prime Minister Netanyahu coherently.

Ms. McMahon has also been sharing her distaste for a settlement with CBS News staffers, according to Puck. 

While Mr. Owens and Ms. McMahon likely believe their stand against the settlement is protecting journalism and the network, the bad press alone generated by the contretemps could put their jobs on the chopping block as Skydance is reportedly looking to move past CBS News’ multiple scandals that the two executives have presided over in recent months.

In addition to the constant drip of embarrassing leaks surrounding CBS News and the merger deal, the latest reporting about Mr. Shell’s pressure to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit could put the merger at risk.

Companies that are seeking to merge are supposed to act as competitors until the government approves the deal. However, the intervention by Mr. Shell could be seen as a form of “gun jumping,” or illegal pre-merger coordination between the two companies, that could spark further scrutiny from the FCC, which has the authority to approve or reject the deal. 

Representatives for CBS News and Skydance did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Paramount and Skydance got even more bad news on Monday after a judge in Delaware opened the door for the deal to be blocked on different grounds. A Delaware chancellor (a kind of judge), Kathaleen McCormick, heard arguments from New York City’s public pension fund, which is seeking to block the merger as it argues shareholders of Paramount were unfairly left out of the process.

The pension fund complained that Skydance is paying a higher price for Ms. Redstone’s controlling interest in Paramount than it is paying to the common shareholders. 

“Even more brazenly. Skydance has agreed to pay for Redstone’s Central Park apartment and to pay for the lease for her private jet. Most egregiously, Skydance has agreed to indemnify Redstone for any breach of fiduciary duty claims arising out of the proposed merger, knowing full well that she would face massive personal liability for extracting so much value for herself,” the lawsuit states.

Ms. McCormick has not issued a ruling on whether Paramount must consider a rival bid for a merger deal from the investment consortium, Project Rise Partners. However, she did ask the pension fund for more information about their complaint.

Her decision not to reject the lawsuit immediately sparked speculation that she might be open to blocking the Skydance deal, at least temporarily. 

The New York Post quoted an individual who has been “closely following the suit” as saying, “If you are delaying a decision, it’s bad for the people who did not bring the case. Paramount probably has real problems in court.”

Ms. McCormick, who was appointed by Delaware’s Democratic governor, John Carney, made headlines last year after she rejected a $56 billion pay package for Elon Musk that was approved by Tesla’s stakeholders. 

She did not set a new date for another hearing in the case, but the ruling comes as Paramount expects its deal to merge with Skydance could be approved by the FCC as soon as March 18, meaning the deal could fall apart at the last minute for reasons completely unrelated to the self-destructive leaks surrounding CBS News.