On the first day as the new owner of Paramount, CEO David Ellison insisted that Skydance was “not involved” in the Donald-Trump Paramount settlement, but deflected questions about a potential Skydance side deal made with Trump to run PSAs.

Ellison spoke with CBS journalists on his first day, acknowledging the stresses of the past year and touting the importance of “fact-based journalism,” a person in attendance said.

Paramount has set the base salaries for its new C-suite on the heels of Skydance closing its $8 billion acquisition of the media giant.