CBS releases Trump-free preview of ’60 Minutes’ fall season after $16M lawsuit settlement

CBS on Sunday released a trailer for “60 Minutes” that is notably devoid of any mention of President Trump – after coughing up $16 million this year to settle claims of election interference.

The trailer for season 58 of the network’s infamous newsmagazine runs two minutes and 50 seconds long and covers Charlie Kirk’s shocking assassination last week, developments in artificial intelligence and even bird-watching – but no mention of Trump.

Meanwhile, its season 57 trailer, which was released on Sep. 10, 2024, runs for two minutes and 30 seconds and includes a 10-second feature on the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol and an interview with a Trump supporter who believed the 2020 election was rigged.

The Trump-free trailer comes after Paramount Global and CBS in July agreed to pay $16 million to settle claims that a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris was deceitfully edited to make her appear more articulate ahead of the 2024 election. 

Trump later said he expected to receive a total of $36 million, confirming an exclusive report by The Post. That includes $20 million in advertising and public service announcements from Skydance Media, which took control of Paramount later in July.

Skydance is led by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Trump ally and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.

Representatives for CBS, Paramount and “60 Minutes” did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.

CBS staffers were furious with Shari Redstone, then-Paramount’s controlling shareholder, over the settlement, which they viewed as a capitulation to pressure from the Trump administration. 

At the time, Paramount was still hoping to gain approval from Trump’s FCC for its long-planned merger with Skydance.

Also in July, CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s late-night show, calling it a “financial decision,” though there has been speculation that Colbert’s anti-Trump politics played a role.

Meanwhile, ABC this week suspended Jimmy Kimmel “indefinitely” after he said right-wingers were politicizing Kirk’s assassination – and seemingly implied that the killer might have been a MAGA conservative.

Just a few hours before ABC announced Kimmel’s suspension, Carr had suggested there was a “strong case” for the FCC to take action against ABC and its parent company, Disney.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said during a podcast with Benny Johnson, a right-wing pundit and YouTuber.

Sinclair and Nexstar – two major owners of ABC affiliate stations – quickly yanked Kimmel’s show off the air.

Nexstar, which owns 32 ABC affiliates, is currently seeking FCC approval to acquire rival Tegna and its 13 ABC stations. 

The deal is also likely dependent on a rule change from Carr to the nationwide cap on the percentage of households a single entity’s TV stations are permitted to reach.

The cap is currently set at 39%. Nexstar’s deal with Tegna is expected to greatly exceed that limit.

Trump, meanwhile, has cheered Kimmel’s ouster and added that the US government might start revoking broadcast licenses from networks that are mostly “against” him.

He said that ultimately the decision “will be up to Brendan Carr,” who earlier called Kimmel’s comments “truly sick.”

During his show’s opening monologue on Monday, Kimmel said: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Carr on Thursday denied that his calls for ABC to take action against Kimmel were linked to the late-night comedian’s anti-Trump politics.

He argued that networks with TV licenses – like ABC, NBC and CBS – have an obligation to serve the public interest, and Kimmel failed to do so by “appearing to directly mislead the American public.”

The day after Kimmel’s monologue, court documents were filed that showed that the mother of Tyler Robinson – the accused killer – told investigators that “her son had become more political and had started to lean more to the left.”