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Trump Follows Through on Promise to Sue CBS News Over 60 Minutes Transcript

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 01, 2024 9:00 AM

Last month, CBS News became engulfed in a scandal of their own making after editing the answers Vice President Kamala Harris' provided during her "60 Minutes" interview. It took weeks for the network to put out a statement, though that still didn't include the full transcript. Attorneys from former and potentially future President Donald Trump demanded such a transcript, and sure enough, after threatening to do so in a letter from counsel, they sued the network weeks later on Thursday night. 

The clip and edits in question refers to Harris' nonanswer about Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Her responses on the several questions to do with this topic were not only shameful when it comes to throwing Israel under the bus--made even more shameful as it was an interview around the time of the October 7 anniversary-but because "doctoring" was involved. 

The 19-page lawsuit was filed on Thursday night, as Fox News reported, with a copy of that lawsuit included in the piece. Trump is suing the network for $10 billion in damages. The lawsuit claims that the network engaged in "deceptive conduct" for election interference with such an interview. That CBS News is said to have operated in a "deceptive" manner looks to be a theme of the lawsuit. 

As Fox News mentioned:

Trump attorneys said the complaint comes due to "CBS’ partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public." 

Trump attorneys also argued the edits were done in an effort to "attempt to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party as the heated 2024 Presidential Election — which President Trump is leading — approaches its conclusion." 

"President Trump brings this action to redress the immense harm caused to him, to his campaign, and to tens of millions of citizens in Texas and across America by CBS’s deceptive broadcasting conduct," the lawsuit states.

...

"To paper over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news," the lawsuit states.

Trump lawyers argue that news organizations "are responsible for accurately representing the truth of events, not distorting an interview to try and falsely make their preferred candidate appear coherent and decisive, which Kamala most certainly is not."

"Due to CBS’ actions, the public could not distinguish which Kamala they saw in the Interview: the candidate or the actual puppet of a behind-the-scenes editor," the lawsuit states, noting that Whitaker’s question "was of the utmost public significance — U.S. foreign policy on the matter of the Israel/Gaza war — at a time of immense importance, mere weeks before the most critical presidential election in American history." 

Trump is demanding a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages for CBS’ alleged "ongoing false, misleading, and deceptive acts; the attorneys’ fees and costs associated with this action; and such other relief as the court deems just and proper." 

CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Trump himself also referenced the lawsuit during his Thursday night rally, telling the crowd the lawsuit was "in honor of you," to applause from the audience. The Republican nominee had also been referring to CBS News and ABC News as "no good."

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While host Bill Whitaker's questions to Harris initially seemed to be surprisingly fair, that was all tainted when it turned out the clips and transcript were edited, producing a cleaner and more eloquent response from the inarticulate Democratic nominee. The network has repeatedly hit Trump for not doing an interview for this election cycle, though the campaign had already addressed that. CBS News has also of course treated Trump (and other Republicans) unfairly in the past. 

CBS News and "60 Minutes" look to have lost whatever credibility they might have had, and many have called on Republicans to not give the network any credibility, and thus refuse to go on their programs.