Trump sues CBS News over 60 Minutes interview with Harris; Network says lawsuit is “completely unfounded”

Former President Donald Trump has sued CBS News, claiming the network misled the public and unfairly disadvantaged him by “fraudulently” editing a recent 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In a statement released Thursday, CBS News called the former president's claims “completely without merit” and said the network intends to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which comes just days before the two candidates face off in the 2024 presidential election, focuses on two clips of an interview 60 Minutes conducted with Harris in October. One of the clips has been edited to include a lengthy section of her response to a question about the conflict in the Middle East. Trump's lawsuit alleges that this editorial decision was intentionally designed to support his opponent and mislead the public, which CBS News has denied.

“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. The lawsuit says the former president is seeking a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages.

“Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false,” he said Network Terms of Use says. “The interview was not manipulated.”

Trump's legal complaint was filed Thursday in federal court in Amarillo County in the Northern District of Texas, a remote location where the only judge is a Trump appointee in 2019. According to the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US, Republican-led states and special interest groups have referred at least 14 politically sensitive cases to this court since January 2021.

The lawsuit does not allege that Trump was defamed by the network, said Geoffrey R. Stone, a First Amendment scholar and law professor at the University of Chicago who reviewed the complaint. Instead, the lawsuit seeks a novel application of a Texas law designed to prevent advertisers from misleading the public about a product being sold – the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act.

Stone called it a “misapplication” of the law.

“This law is about sales – a seller can be held liable for claiming that a product has certain positive effects when they know it does not,” Stone said. “But CBS doesn’t advertise here.”

Harvard law professor Noah Feldman, an expert in constitutional law, said he was puzzled by Trump's claims and called the case an “egregious violation of First Amendment principles.”

“This is a complaint that is so baseless that it can almost be considered frivolous,” Feldman said.

The former president has been expressing his dissatisfaction with the interview for weeks during the election campaign.

“Millions of Americans, including residents of Texas and this county, were confused and misled by the two doctored versions of the interview,” the lawsuit says.

In an earlier statement from 60 Minutes, the network said the two clips were edited differently because a segment that appeared on “Face the Nation” provided more time to accommodate a longer portion of Harris' response.

“Same question. Same answer. But Another Part of the Answer,” October 20th Statement from 60 Minutesis it[called“WhenweeditaninterviewbeitwithapoliticiananathleteoramoviestarwestrivetobeclearaccurateandtothepointTheportionofheransweron60Minuteswasmoresuccinctwhichleavestimeforothertopicsingeneral”a21-minutesegment”

However, Trump had been invited to his own interview on 60 Minutes rejected.

The former president has already filed several lawsuits against media organizations, including a defamation suit against ABC News in March over a question asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview.

He has lost previous libel suits against CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.