WASHINGTON, D.C. — A leading press freedom advocacy group has retained a team of legal heavyweights known for taking on the Trump Administration in its bid to block Paramount Global from settling a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump. In a formal demand letter sent today to Paramount’s Board of Directors, Freedom Press Foundation (FPF) objected to the corporation’s negotiations with President Trump over the settlement of his lawsuit against CBS News.

Sending the letter on behalf of FPF are a pair of veteran litigators representing others in high-profile fights against this administration. FPF has enlisted the help of Abbe David Lowell and his new law firm, Lowell & Associates (L&A) as well as former diplomat and widely respected lawyer and activist Norm Eisen, to represent them in this matter. Lowell and Eisen sent the letter to Paramount today demanding that they end settlement discussions of Trump’s frivolous suit.

“If the Board proceeds with any kind of backroom deal, it would be a blatant breach of its fiduciary duty,” said Abbe David Lowell, founding member of Lowell & Associates. “Trading away the credibility of CBS’s news division to curry favor with the Trump Administration is an improper and reckless act that will irreparably damage the company’s brand and destroy shareholder value. The Board is legally and morally obligated to protect the company, not auction off its integrity for regulatory approval.”

“If Paramount capitulates here, they will be eviscerating perhaps their most precious journalistic assets, CBS News and 60 Minutes, not to mention their own reputation and shareholder value,” said Norm Eisen, executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Action. “Beyond that, Paramount will be harming the First Amendment itself. They should not yield.”

The letter notes recent reporting that Paramount Global has sought to resolve President Donald Trump’s $20 billion dollar lawsuit over CBS News’ editing of an interview to entice the Trump Administration to provide the necessary approval for a pending merger that the corporation is seeking to close. First Amendment experts everywhere have said the lawsuit is frivolous.

The prospective settlement has led to condemnation from press freedom advocates, who fear it would spark a new wave of censorial shakedowns by the Trump Administration against news outlets.

Freedom of the Press Foundation advocacy director Seth Stern said: “We can’t let corporate executives sell out press freedom to benefit themselves. Settling this case would not only irreparably damage Paramount and CBS, it would encourage further shakedowns of news outlets, film studios and others who depend on their First Amendment right to say things Donald Trump might not like. Authoritarianism is bad for business and Paramount should not further America’s democratic backslide, for the country’s sake and its own.”

Brenna Frey, a counsel at L&A and one of the attorneys on the case appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes last month to discuss her decision to resign from her prior firm, Skadden Arps, after that firm made a deal with Trump rather than contest his executive order targeting it over past legal representations that Trump didn’t like. Now she’s on the team seeking to stop CBS from similarly caving.

“I resigned from my former law firm for caving instead of fighting the threat of an unconstitutional executive order,” said Brenna Frey, counsel at Lowell & Associates. “I was able to tell my story on CBS’s 60 Minutes because of the independence of a courageous news division, which is what’s at risk now.”

Read the letter from FPF’s legal team HERE

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Lowell & Associates, PLLC provides strategic and principled legal representation across civil, criminal, compliance, congressional and regulatory matters. The firm brings a deep understanding of both the law and the broader context in which our clients operate, serving individuals, businesses and institutions that value experienced counsel and effective advocacy in today's legal environment.

Democracy Defenders Action brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state, and local allies across the country committed to upholding the rule of law, fighting against autocracy and defending the Constitution.

Freedom of the Press Foundation is a nonprofit organization that defends public interest journalism. The foundation builds secure communications tools for investigative journalists, teaches reporters how to keep themselves and their sources safe in the digital age, documents press freedom violations across the U.S. and advocates for the public’s right to know.