Former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has filed a federal lawsuit seeking a jury trial and $10 billion in damages against CBS over claims that it edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, in a “deceitful” manner designed to influence the election.
CBS News' actions represented a “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to (a) confuse, deceive, and mislead the public, and (b) attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party as the heated 2024 Presidential Election” said the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division.
CBS News has dismissed those claims. "Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false," a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. "The lawsuit Trump has brought today against CBS is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it."
The National Association of Broadcasters also lambasted the suit.
“A free press must report, inform and scrutinize without fear of reprisal,” NAB President and CEO Curtes LeGeyt said in a statement. “Frivolous lawsuits aimed at stifling this essential role risk undermining democratic principles and ignore the First Amendment’s protection of how news is reported. NAB stands firmly with our members against any attacks on their First Amendment-protected reporting.”
Earlier, Trump had called for CBS to lose its broadcast licenses over the editing of the interview even though the FCC licenses local stations, not broadcast networks.
“‘60 Minutes’ is a major part of the News Organization of CBS, which has just created the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS—and maybe even WORSE!”
That prompted this response from CBS:
“Former President Donald Trump is accusing ‘60 Minutes’ of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false.
“‘60 Minutes’ gave an excerpt of our interview to ‘Face the Nation’ that used a longer section of her answer than that on ‘60 Minutes,’ ” CBS said. “Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on ‘60 Minutes’ was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide-ranging, 21-minute-long segment.”
