Another network head bites the dust. This time it's Wendy McMahon, president of CBS News and Stations, abruptly announcing she is stepping down. Why now? The resignation comes less than 24 hours after the season finale of 60 minutes flagship program. [00:00:15] The show at the center of rising tensions, though, too, between CBS and Donald Trump. McMahon confirmed the exit in a staff memo, writing this it's become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward. [00:00:31] Usually it's not that candid. The move follows months of pressure inside CBS and from its parent company, Paramount, over 60 minutes coverage of Trump and the 2024 election. Trump is suing CBS and Paramount for $20 billion, claiming the network deceptively edited an interview with Kamala Harris. [00:00:51] Many legal experts say the suit is baseless. But Paramount's controlling shareholder is Shari Redstone, and she wants the case settled because she's seeking Trump's approval for a multi billion dollar sale to Skydance Media. Sarjenka network president resigns while her company tries to appease Trump [00:01:10] to get a media deal done. Is it fair to officially declare there is no more, major network cable news, independent media? That's it's gone and likely gone forever. Yeah. [00:01:26] So a lot of interesting elements to this story, including, a reason that no one else is talking about, even though it was said out loud, which, as you'll see in a second. Why why that's the case, but okay, let's break it down one by one. [00:01:41] First of all, Shannon, you did get one part of the story wrong. When you say Trump is asking for 20 billion, you always have to say, does $20 like this is like a Doctor Evil plot? Yeah, 60 minutes is a perfectly normal edit of Kamala Harris. [00:01:57] She's got word salads. They can't contain it in the segment that they have. They've got to edit it, right? I mean, if you didn't edit Kamala Harris's word salads. Every interview with her would last two hours. So and every expert says, yeah, it's a perfectly normal edit. [00:02:14] Still had the same exact non-answer on Israel. It was super vague and purposely vague. So it's a bad answer in either cut. It doesn't make any sense. But Trump is trying to intimidate the press. So, Shari Redstone is trying to sell CBS [00:02:33] and Paramount, and I know the back story to that just from the public reading of the trade journals, etc., and what that what happened was she got what looked like a really good offer. She didn't take it. Now, I don't know the details of why she didn't take it and why. Maybe there was a reason why it wasn't a good offer. [00:02:50] She winds up taking another offer that was closer to a distressed sale. Not a great offer, but that means they're in a panic. They got to unload this thing. So if you don't know that, this story might not make as much sense. So now Trump is not only suing them from 20 billion, [00:03:06] he has no chance of winning that case. It's a comical case. And by the way, if he's got a good case, I we're we're the one honest news show. We'll tell you. So for example, Trump won today 8 to 1 in the Supreme Court on whether Venezuelans should have protected status or not. That is the discretion of the president. He should have won that case. [00:03:23] And he did win that case, and he won it easily. Right. So when he's right, I'll tell you he's right in this case. It's comical to sue on this. And he's a public figure. He's the president of the United States. If he wins on this, then you then any politician can say, you know what? [00:03:39] You edited me or my opponent. And I didn't like the way you edited us. That's it. I'm suing you for $10 billion. $20 billion. You're never allowed to edit me. You're never allowed to criticize me. All. Everybody must bow their heads to the politicians. [00:03:54] Hell no. Is my answer to that. Legally, it makes no sense. And. And if you're a true American, you don't want that. You believe in freedom of speech, freedom of the press. And certainly when it applies to politicians and the president. So that stuff's so she's not. [00:04:09] My point is she's not settling the lawsuit because she thinks they have a bad case. She's trying to settle the lawsuit. So Trump will approve the merger, the sale and and Trump's White House is in charge of that. [00:04:24] They can approve or disapprove or not approve. And so this doesn't have to do with the lawsuit. It has to do with the the sale. And so now that but that's not the second reason. The second reason people aren't talking about is that when the CBS's 60 minutes [00:04:43] had own, Bill Owens stepped down, he made a point of pointing out that one of the points of disagreement was about Israel. Now, that got no press, right? So he didn't, he said, a pointed comment about the war reporting [00:05:00] and how 60 minutes should continue it. And it was in the press. And I read it in an NPR story about how Shari Redstone didn't like 60 minutes on CBS being critical of Israel ever. So that might be another reason why McMahon and Owens have left, [00:05:16] because apparently you're not allowed to criticize Israel. Honestly, you're not allowed to do that or otherwise. The owner of the company will ask you to step down. So how much of a factor that is versus the sale, I don't know. My guess is that she cares a lot more about the sale because that involves [00:05:34] literally all of her family assets. So but it's interesting. Both of those are super illegitimate. But that's why all of this is happening. Maybe the tenor, you know, Shari Redstone, the criticism of Israel. [00:05:50] I feel like not even trying to make make it nice. She's out. Clearly, Wendy McMahon is saying what she did meant there. This thing was hot and heavy behind the scenes. So, you mentioned Bill Owens, 60 minutes executive producer, [00:06:06] resigned last month saying he no longer had journalistic independence. McMahon supported him publicly, putting her at odds with top Paramount execs worried about Trump's reaction at the time she said this. Wendy McMahon standing behind Bill was an easy decision for me behind the scenes. [00:06:25] Some CBS journalists certainly expected her ouster, but the speed of her resignation right after the 60 minutes finale raised eyebrows across the industry. Her leadership faced other pressures, too. Ratings at CBS Evening News dropped since a recent overhaul. [00:06:40] McMahon faced backlash from Redstone over what Jack was talking about. The internal decisions, including a newsroom rebuke of CBS morning anchor Tony Dokoupil after he challenged Tanahashi Coates during an interview regarding the stance, [00:06:55] his stance, the author, the, educational guy professor, his stance on the war in Gaza. Redstone later said that rebuke was a mistake. She praised Koppel for doing a great job. [00:07:11] Now with Trump, it does seem pressuring networks, lawsuits, threatening billions, corporate owners, chasing deals. The fallout is is clear. I mean, this paramount deal needing approval thing just seems it's just play to pay to play. [00:07:28] You know the Trump administration transactional. He wants what he wants. It's a shakedown. And it seems Shari Redstone is just waiting for the number to just let's just get this thing done. Yeah. You know, there's another element to this. When you tie in the lawsuit with the approval of the sale, [00:07:47] what winds up happening is Trump like a mob boss is taking his cut of the sale. He's saying if you want the sale to go through, I'm not going to review it based on merit. I don't give a damn about merit. I'm going to approve it based on how much you pay me personally [00:08:03] in this BS lawsuit that I filed. Why do you think he put the number at 20 billion? What a comical number. What an absurd number. Because he's thinking this is a multi-billion dollar sale. Maybe I get a billion out of it. Maybe I get whatever I can steal out of this sale [00:08:19] by threatening, to not approve it. I'll do the guise of. Oh, they criticized. It's not even a criticism they edited. Not me, but Kamala Harris. Wrong in one answer. So basically he's saying, number one, if you're a news company, don't you dare [00:08:36] criticize me in any way, shape or form. I'll make you pay a heavy price for it. And number two, if you're doing any kind of sale or merger, I want a piece. Okay, give me a piece of that action. I'll threaten to sue you, and then you'll have to settle with me. And that won't be a campaign contribution. It'll go right into my pocket. [00:08:54] So that's how this, Dawn, if you will, handles his business. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true. But it does keep you updated on our live shows.