Donald Trump files lawsuit against CBS News: What we know

Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential candidate, filed a lawsuit against CBS News on Thursday 60 minutes Interview with his Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris that aired earlier this month.

The lawsuit challenges CBS's “partisan and unlawful election operations and voter interference through malicious, deceptive and material distortions of news designed to confuse, deceive and mislead the public,” Fox News said in the statement Digitally received file from Thursday.

Trump's lawyers argued that Bill Whitaker's interview with Harris was cut to “tip the scales in the Democratic Party's favor as the heated 2024 presidential election – which President Trump is leading – nears its end.”

It's unclear what metrics Trump's lawyers are using to assess the presidential candidate's performance in the race so far. The Nov. 5 election is expected to be close, with Harris currently leading Trump by just 1.2 points (47.9 percent to 46.7 percent) in national polls, according to numbers from poll aggregator 538 on Thursday.

Newsweek reached out to CBS News and Trump communications director Steven Cheung via email Thursday evening for comment.

Harris' 60 minutes Controversy explained

Trump's lawsuit stems from a portion of Harris' interview with Whitaker in which she was asked about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The interview aired on October 7, the first anniversary of Israel's war in Gaza.

A preview was shown on CBS News the day before the full interview aired. Face the nation. In the clip, Harris gave a wordy response when Whitaker confronted her about Netanyahu apparently not listening to the US when it comes to dealing with the conflict in the Middle East.

When the full interview aired the next day, Harris' wordy answer was shortened and her answer to a follow-up question was completely changed.

“To cover up Kamala's 'word salad' weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line between exercising judgment in reporting and fraudulently, fraudulently manipulating news,” the lawsuit says.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Trump's lawyers wrote letters to CBS News asking the network to release the full interview transcript. CBS News declined, citing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

CBS News responds to lawsuit

A CBS News spokesperson said Newsweek via email Thursday evening: “Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false.”

The speaker said this 60 minutes The interview was “not manipulated” and the broadcast “hid no part of the Vice President’s answer to the question at issue.”

The show presented Whitaker's interview with Harris “fairly” “to inform the viewing audience and not to mislead them,” the spokesman said, adding: “The lawsuit that Trump filed against CBS today is completely unfounded and we will vigorously defend ourselves against it.”

Trump demands $10 billion from CBS News

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, seeks $10 billion in damages for CBS News' alleged “ongoing false, misleading and deceptive acts, attorneys' fees and costs associated with this action, and the like.” “Relief as the Court deems just and proper.”

Trump filed the lawsuit “to redress the immense harm caused to him, his campaign and tens of millions of citizens in Texas and across America by CBS' deceptive broadcast conduct,” the lawsuit says.

“As a result of CBS’s actions, the public was unable to distinguish which Kamala they saw in the interview: the contestant or an editor’s actual puppet behind the scenes,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit said Whitaker's question was “of the utmost public importance – to U.S. foreign policy regarding the Israel-Gaza war – at a time of immense importance, just weeks before the most critical presidential election in American history.”