The Showdown Over '60'

But in recent days, before that development, CBS boss George Cheeks, acting on what insiders believe was direction from Paramount boss Shari Redstone, had floated pulling the “60 Minutes” season finale and substituting it with a prime time special, the people familiar with the matter said. Cheeks ultimately didn’t go through with the idea, but it left McMahon disturbed and she relayed her strong disapproval to Cheeks. I’m told that McMahon even indicated that if the network wished to kill its flagship news program in order to appease Trump, Cheeks would have to fire her.

Cheeks ultimately asked for McMahon’s resignation on Saturday. And McMahon gave it—choosing to exit on her own terms rather than be complicit in what she viewed as a capitulation and challenging work environment. The CBS News board was informed about the decision on Sunday and Redstone was said to be supportive of it, I’m told.

McMahon's resignation came just weeks after “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens also stepped down, a one-two punch that has left CBS News reeling and further exposed the growing rift between the newsroom and its parent company. The core issue, of course, is Paramount’s desire to resolve Trump’s $20 billion defamation lawsuit against CBS News—a suit legal experts have widely dismissed as meritless, but which nonetheless threatens the company’s efforts to secure government approval for its proposed merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.

Redstone, who controls Paramount, is eager to close the deal. But the Federal Communications Commission is now chaired by Brendan Carr, a Trump loyalist with a record of weaponizing the agency’s authority to punish media adversaries. It has become abundantly clear to Paramount that the Skydance merger will not be approved until the company settles Trump's lawsuit against "60 Minutes." Paramount and Trump's team have been in mediation trying to strike a deal.

That has turned CBS News into collateral in a merger fight. And it’s made “60 Minutes”—long considered the most credible and prestigious broadcast in American journalism—a target. As Status exclusively reported, McMahon and Owens were told late last year in a meeting with incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell that they needed to be comfortable with a settlement. McMahon and Owens walked out of the meeting rattled.

In the months since, the pressure only escalated. There were repeated efforts by Paramount to tone down “60 Minutes” coverage of Trump, including even removing his name from certain segments, according to people familiar with the matter. McMahon resisted each of these moves. She considered the idea of issuing an apology to Trump—something the former president is likely to demand as part of any settlement—a red line that she would not cross.

What’s become unmistakably clear is that Redstone has chosen to play ball with Trump. Rather than defend the newsroom her family once prided itself on owning—from Edward R. Murrow to Walter Cronkite to “60 Minutes”—Redstone has treated CBS News as a pawn in a larger corporate transaction. The reporting that drew Trump’s ire is widely viewed as legitimate and unimpeachable. Yet, to win regulatory approval, Redstone has undermined it. It’s a naked calculation: Preserving her deal with Skydance is more important than preserving the integrity of CBS News.

Of course, in bending to Trump, Redstone isn’t just undermining “60 Minutes”—she’s sending a message to every journalist under the CBS News banner that editorial independence ends where business inconvenience begins. That's certainly how many of the journalists inside CBS News are reading it, particularly at “60 Minutes,” where there are real question whether Lesley Stahl and Scott Pelley will return next season.

Inside the network, I'm told McMahon’s resignation landed as both a shock, but it also didn't surprise staffers. It's what they expected to ultimately happen. That's because they knew McMahon had fought in recent months to protect the integrity of the newsroom, and that ultimately it would put her in an untenable position with the parent company—just as it did with Owens. With her gone, staffers are bracing for even more pressure from Paramount.

Suffice to say, but staffers believe the newsroom’s firewall has badly frayed—and they place some of the blame on Cheeks. “If I were George Cheeks, I’d avoid any newsroom for a while and prepare to go on a helluva mea culpa tour when it’s over. Starting at ‘60’ and Washington especially,” one correspondent at the network told me Monday. It will now be up to Tom Cibrowski, who recently took the position of CBS News president, to preserve CBS News’ editorial integrity moving forward.

Indeed, the question now looming over CBS News is whether the network will hold that line—or fold. McMahon’s stance had helped set CBS News apart from other major media companies that have acquiesced to Trump in recent months. But with her exit, and Owens gone as well, the resistance may be nearing its end.

Jet Fueled Fury: Donald Trump is—once again—threatening legal action against ABC News. The complainer-in-chief took to Truth Social to fume over the Disney-owned network’s coverage of Qatar’s jet giveaway, singling out Bob Iger by name: “Why doesn’t he do something about ABC Fake News?” Trump, who recently revealed that he met privately with Iger, pointed to his $16 million legal windfall from ABC’s parent company as a supposed reason the network should tread carefully. Of course, it's a classic Trump play—demanding loyalty, threatening lawsuits, and lashing out when the coverage doesn’t bend to his will. And it’s yet another reminder: No matter how many private meetings or payouts, you can never truly appease Trump.

• CBS News President Tom Cibrowski will work to fix the viewership the revamped "CBS Evening News" has struggled with, Brian Steinberg reported. [Variety]

• Jessica Testa and Benjamin Mullin profiled Kara Swisher, writing about how she has "scaled even higher." In the piece, the duo report her podcast with Scott Galloway could generate $100 million in four years, which under their new deal the hosts will split 70/30 with Vox Media. [NYT]

• Charlotte Klein examined how Kathleen Kingsbury is leading The NYT's opinion section: "The size and scope of the department make it feel like its own separate publication rather than just a corner of the Times.” [NY Mag]

• New York Mag will release a Hamptons issue, the publication revealed to Emily Sundberg. [Feed Me]

• Yahoo upped Matt Sanchez to chief operating officer and announced a new division—which will unify Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and emerging media—that will report to Ryan Spoon. [LinkedIn]

• The WaPo named Noah Bierman deputy editor of its campaigns and democracy team. [WaPo]

• THR named Heidi Linnebach as vice president of entertainment and awards strategy. [THR]

Zero Hedging the Truth: The James S. Brady press briefing room sounded more like a 4chan forum than a gathering of journalists on Monday as the White House welcomed a “new media” reporter from the far-right conspiracy blog Zero Hedge. Liam Cosgrove—who works for the blog that U.S. intelligence officials have accused of spreading Russian propaganda—was given the floor for the first questions of the day to ask Karoline Leavitt about the nonsensical “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory. Speaking before other journalists, Cosgrove peddled the claim that Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide was “the most-famous Clinton-related death” and attacked the credibility of The Washington Post after it fact-checked one of Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social amplifying the bogus claim. While Leavitt smirked at the question, the meandering rant was yet another example of how pro-Trump media outlets continue to use the platform to air bizarre grievances and lob softballs for the administration.

• The MAGA backlash continued for Kash Patel and Dan Bongino after the FBI leaders confirmed Jeffrey Epstein did, in fact, die by suicide:

  • In his most recent podcast, Tucker Carlson laughed aloud over the claim from Bongino, asking, “What was that?!”

  • Alex Jones: They're "making fools of themselves." [MMFA]

  • Glenn Beck: "I want to hear from Dan Bongino and say to him, 'Dan, specifically, what did you see? Because I know you, you didn’t believe this either. So what is it? And show it to me.'" [Mediaite]

• The Daily Wire tapped former "Jeopardy!" boss Mike Richards as its president and chief operating officer. The move comes after Jeremy Boreing stepped down as co-chief executive. [Bloomberg]

  • Ben Shapiro is apparently looking for investors amid speculation the company is in financial trouble, which it has denied, Max Tani reported. [Semafor]

• Scott Adams, the “Dilbert” creator turned conspiracy theorist, said he is battling the same cancer as Joe Biden: “It is 100% not curable.” [LAT]

• Taylor Lorenz reacted to Biden's cancer diagnosis by saying she hopes he "rots in Hell and rests in piss." [Mediaite]

• Karoline Leavitt was forced to explain Donald Trump's bizarre post in which he claimed Taylor Swift is "no longer hot." Leavitt said the president was speaking about her "political views." [The Wrap]

  • Trump on Monday also attacked Beyoncé and Oprah, claiming on Truth Social that they have “A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO.”

• Right-wing bomb thrower Megyn Kelly announced that she will interview Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on her Tuesday program as the duo promotes their “Original Sin” book.

• Bluesky is testing a "live" indicator for certain streams. [The Verge]

• A federal judge wants Apple to either approve Fortnite on the App Store—or explain why it has not. [Tech Crunch]

• Business Insider published another account from a Meta employee who was laid off earlier this year: "I had received great ratings, had good relationships, and was acknowledged for exceeding expectations." [Business Insider]

• Ex-climate champion Elon Musk brought his power hungry xAI supercomputer to Memphis, where residents say they’re now choking on its pollution. [CNN]

• Status Scoop | Paramount is officially moving ahead with “Top Gun 3.” Studio chief Brian Robbins told me on Sunday evening—at a reception ahead of the “Mission: Impossible” premiere in New York—that the studio is fully committed to producing a third installment in the blockbuster franchise. Tom Cruise had hinted earlier in the weekend that he was developing ideas for another film, but it had not been confirmed. Robbins, however, left no ambiguity: “Top Gun 3” is happening. Robbins, however, would not commit to a ninth “Mission” film, though he left the door open.

  • Speaking of “The Final Reckoning”: The film was very good and a fitting ending to what could be Cruise’s final installment in the action franchise. It was certainly better than part one of “Dead Reckoning.”

• “Sesame Street” has a new streaming home on Netflix after Max ended its partnership with the long-running children’s show. [THR]

• Singer Dawn Richard testified she witnessed Sean “Diddy” Combs beat Cassie Ventura and the mogul threatened to kill her if she spoke out. [AP]

• Harvey Weinstein accuser Jessica Mann testified during his retrial that the Hollywood mogul would turn into a “monster” during their relationship. [THR]

• SAG-AFTRA filed an unfair labor practice charge over “Fortnite’s” use of an A.I.-generated replica of James Earl Jones’ voice. [The Wrap]

• Denzel Washington received an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” premiere. [Deadline]

• CBS Studios is developing a reboot of “7th Heaven” with Jessica Biel as an executive producer. [Variety]