The Present Age

The Present Age

The Art of the Shakedown

How Trump turned garbage lawsuits into a billion-dollar protection racket — and why corporate America keeps paying up

Parker Molloy's avatar
Parker Molloy
Jul 02, 2025
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On July 2, 2025, Paramount Global agreed to pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit that legal experts considered laughably frivolous. The supposed crime? CBS News edited an interview with Kamala Harris — something every news organization has done with every interview since the invention of television.

Trump had sued for $10 billion in damages o…

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