Schiff threatens to investigate ABC, CBS for their Trump settlements if Dems take control of Congress

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., leveled threats to investigate news organizations that have made settlements with President Donald Trump if Democrats take control of Congress in the 2026 midterms.

"These studios, these companies, these media conglomerates need to understand that right now it may be carte blanche for them — right now they may be able to have ABC make a payment to the president personally and CBS do the same or change the content, but there's going to be an investigation into all of this when the Congress changes hands. And if there were improper considerations went into greasing the skids on this, this is going to come to light," Schiff said on Friday's installment of "The Town" podcast.

"There's going to be an accounting and companies need to know that if they're engaged in corrupt or illicit activity or improper activity that there's going to be accountability... We're not just going to look past whether there was money changing hands to grease the skids here. That accountability is going to be very important," Schiff added.

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The Democratic lawmaker accused the Trump administration of putting its "hand on the scale" in favor of Paramount in its bidding war against Netflix to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, which Paramount succeeded. Schiff speculated to "The Town" host Matt Belloni that Trump is fixated on shifting the content of CNN.

CNN, which is currently under the Warner Bros. 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 offer. The Ellisons are known for having a chummy relationship with Trump, leaving liberal critics sounding the alarm that CNN will go MAGA under the new leadership.

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David Ellison vowed CNN will maintain editorial independence if the Paramount takeover happens, though he has been vocal about his goals to appeal to the 70% in the political middle, a north star he also applied to CBS News when he took over Paramount last fall.

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

In December 2024, just weeks before Trump was sworn into office for his second term, ABC News paid a $16 million settlement to Trump after he filed a defamation lawsuit earlier in the year for comments made by "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Stephanopoulos had falsely claimed that Trump was "found liable for rape" in the E. Jean Carroll case when in fact a civil jury ruled he was liable 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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Last July, Paramount and CBS News similarly paid a $16 million upfront sum to settle the president’s lawsuit against the network over how "60 Minutes" edited and released 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," asserting the network attempted to clean up her poorly-worded response to a question about Israel. 

Liberal critics at the time alleged Paramount made the settlement to clear the path for its $8 billion merger with David Ellison's Skydance Media. Notably, the Paramount-Skydance merger received the green light from Trump's FCC days after the settlement was reached.