CEO of American channel CBS resigns over Trump's $20 billion lawsuit
Wendy McMahon (Photo: BONNIE CASH /EPA)

CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon has unexpectedly resigned from her position amid the company's legal standoff with US President Donald Trump, Politico reports .

McMahon cited "ongoing disagreements with company management" over the settlement of Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News as the reason for her dismissal.

"It became clear that the company and I disagreed on the next steps," she said.

The US President accused the CBS program "60 Minutes" of manipulatively editing an interview that aired last year with his election opponent, US Vice President Kamala Harris.

Last month, he said that CBS's interview with Harris "misled and deceived the American people on a level never before seen in the political arena."

Paramount, which owns CBS, last month began talks with Trump's lawyers about settling the lawsuit as Paramount seeks to sell the network, which requires approval from the Trump administration.

This is the second resignation at the channel in the past month. In April, 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned, saying he "no longer has journalistic independence in his work."

  • On March 24, it became known that the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine had access to a group chat on the Signal messenger that included senior Trump administration officials. The chat discussed US military plans for strikes against terrorists in Yemen.
  • After that, Trump launched various attacks on The Atlantic, as well as other media outlets, including The New York Times.