If Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in next year’s midterms, the Trumpification of the American media landscape is certain to be a target for congressional committees. With subpoena power, Democrats would have more muscle to probe the criticism-averse president and his administration’s many efforts to control the free press.
But House Dems aren’t waiting until then. In late November, Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Frank Pallone of New Jersey accused CBS’ parent company, Paramount Skydance, of stonewalling their investigation into allegations of bribery in connection with the Trump administration’s oversight of the company’s merger earlier this year.
On Wednesday, Raskin announced he’d launched another investigation into CBS’ newly appointed, conservative ombudsman Kenneth Weinstein over the news outlet’s selective edits to a recent “60 Minutes” interview with Donald Trump.
The television interview, which aired in early November, was heavily edited to omit sections in which Trump spoke about the outlet having paid him millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit over its edits to a 2024 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The channel also omitted portions of the interview in which Trump praised CBS News’ controversial pro-MAGA editor in chief Bari Weiss and touted pro-Trump billionaires Larry Ellison and his son, David, who largely owns and controls Paramount Skydance.
A transcript of the interview shows that Trump told the interviewer to omit some of his responses, which were ultimately left out of the version that was broadcast. The outlet also omitted Trump’s evasive answer to a question about alleged corruption surrounding his pardon of a Chinese crypto scammer with business ties to his family.
In his letter to Weinstein, Raskin wrote that Trump “forced CBS to install a monitor to police newsroom decisions and guard against anti-Trump bias—the farcical Orwellian role you now fill as ‘CBS News Ombudsman.’” Raskin continued, “And now, it appears President Trump has successfully coerced CBS into corruptly and misleadingly editing his own 60 Minutes interview.” His letter demands all documents and communications related to the Trump interview, “including any input from Paramount executives, CBS corporate leadership, or outside parties.” The letter also seeks a briefing from Weinstein on CBS News’ editorial standards and independence. CBS News declined to comment. Scrutiny of Paramount Skydance’s appeasement of Trump amid its merger approval process isn’t limited to the federal level. Lawmakers in the California state Senate have launched their own probe of the company’s settlement with Trump and whether it potentially violated state laws against bribery and unfair competition.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
