Schiff threatens probes into ABC, CBS for Trump settlements in next Congress

Sen. Adam Schiff of California has threatened to investigate news organizations that have struck deals with President Donald Trump if Democrats take control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections.

“These studios, these companies, these media conglomerates must understand that this may be carte blanche for them right now; right now they can have ABC pay the president personally and CBS do the same or change the content, but when Congress changes hands there will be an investigation into all of this. And if there are any inappropriate thoughts about escalating this, it will come to light,” Schiff said in Friday’s post. “Town” podcast.

“There will be an accounting, and companies need to know that if they are involved in corruption or illegal activity or improper activity, there will be accountability… We’re not just going to ignore whether money is changing hands here. That accountability is going to be very important,” Schiff added.

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The Democratic lawmaker accused the Trump administration of placing its “hand on the scales” in favor of Paramount. War bid to Netflix Paramount succeeded Warner Bros. Buying Discovery. Schiff speculated to “The Town” host Matt Belloni that Trump was determined to change CNN’s content.

Currently Warner Bros. CNN, which is under the Discovery corporate umbrella, could soon fall into the hands of Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, who is financially backing Paramount’s $111 billion merger bid. The Ellisons are known to have a cordial relationship with Trump, and liberal critics are sounding the alarm that CNN will go MAGA under new leadership.

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David Ellison promised CNN Maintain editorial independence While he has been vocal about his goals of appealing to the 70% of the political middle if the Paramount takeover goes through, he also appealed to CBS News when he took over Paramount last fall.

Disney, ABC News, Paramount, CBS News and Warner Bros. Representatives for Discovery did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

After Paramount CEO David Ellison defeated Netflix with a $111 billion bid in a heated bidding war, Warner Bros. He’s on the verge of taking over Discovery. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In December 2024, a few weeks before Trump was inaugurated for a second term, ABC News paid Trump a $16 million settlement after “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos filed a defamation lawsuit earlier in the year over his comments.

Stephanopoulos claimed that Trump was “found responsible for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case, although a civil jury found Trump responsible for “sexual abuse.” ABC News issued an apology as part of the settlement, which was reportedly approved by then-Disney CEO Bob Iger.

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Liberal critics are outraged after ABC News and CBS News awarded multi-million dollar deals to President Donald Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Last July, Paramount and CBS News similarly put down $16 million to settle a lawsuit the president filed against the network over how “60 Minutes” edited and aired an interview with his then-Democratic rival Kamala Harris in 2024. Trump’s legal team, which initially sought $10 billion, accused CBS News of “election interference” and suggested the network was trying to sanitize its poorly worded response to a question about Israel.

At the time, liberal critics claimed that Paramount made the deal to pave the way for its $8 billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The Paramount-Skydance merger, in particular, got the green light from Trump’s FCC days after the deal was reached.

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