After three months’ legal wrangling CBS agrees to release transcript of Harris interview to FCC

CBS has agreed to release to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) an unedited transcript of then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview, after months of legal warfare with President Donald Trump. 

Trump is suing CBS Broadcasting Inc., alleging “unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion” that were intended to affect the 2024 presidential election.  

In his $10 billion lawsuit, Trump alleges CBS deceptively edited the interview to make a Harris answer appear better than it was.  

In a trailer promoting the interview, Harris appears unprepared, stumbling over her words, talking in an incoherent “word salad” when asked about Israel, say media watchers. But in the version that aired, Harris’ answer is short, cogent and to the point.  

New FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr opened up a “news distortion” investigation of the broadcast.   

While over-the-air broadcasters are given wide discretion to edit content, the deliberate distortion of factual news is not allowed by the FCC, which is responsible for the licensing of the broadcast spectrum because it’s owned by the public. 

The same restrictions on editing content don’t apply to internet, satellite or cable broadcasters.   

“CBS and other legacy media organizations have gone into overdrive to get Kamala elected,” argues the Trump lawsuit. “Notwithstanding Kamala’s well-documented, deep unpopularity even with her own Party, these organizations have tried to falsely recast her as the candidate of ‘joy,’ whitewashed her lengthy record of policy failures, and painted over her repeated, disqualifying gaffes.” 

The Center for American Rights (CAR) filed its own complaint with the FCC, noting over-the-air broadcasters can’t “engage in intentional falsification or suppression of news.”  

“This isn’t just about one interview or one network,” CAR President Daniel Suhr said in a statement. “This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time. 

“When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.” 

Several news organizations have reported CBS was to turn over the unedited transcript by the end of the day on Monday. Carr confirmed the timeline while appearing on Fox News.   

AdWeek reports CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, is trying to settle the case with Trump, whose administration will pass judgment on Paramount and Skydance Media LLC’s planned $12.5 billion merger. 

Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, said she thinks settling the Trump matter will make regulatory approval for the merger easier, reported the New York Times.  

It all comes as others at the corporate level in media have tried to make peace with Trump after years of abuse by their employees in the legacy media.  

In December, ABC News and host George Stephanopoulos settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump after the ABC News host, who used to work for the Clintons, said on the air close to a dozen times that Trump “raped” E. Jean Carroll, which was never proven in court. 

The settlement with ABC parent company Disney awarded Trump $15 million, plus an apology from ABC News and Stephanopoulos.  

Disney, after being beaten up for years by its own political missteps, reputedly wants to get back to being an entertainment company run by businesspeople, rather than a creative team with staff that specializes in LGBTQ content and fights with conservative lawmakers.   

Staff at CBS News are reportedly “seething” at the idea of settling with Trump, reported the New York Sun, which called the news network “reliably liberal.”  

Polls show the legacy media, the mainstream media and sizable portions of social media have a trust deficit with the American people after years of appearing reliably more and more liberal, even as ratings and revenue tank and advertisers flee.   

In 1972, 68% of Americans had a great deal of trust in the media, with just 6% expressing no trust at all, according to figures by Gallup. Today, just 31% express a great deal of trust in media, while 36% express no trust at all, Gallup reports.  

After years of being treated disproportionately harshly by the liberal media complex, Trump used social media and alternative media in 2024 to reach voters directly, securing a decisive victory over Harris.  

The “reliably liberal” news media seem not to have caught up to the Trump victory. Staffers are still wondering what happened, but the owners of media companies such as Disney, Paramount and Meta have heard the message voters sent and started settlement talks with Trump.  

“I want to be clear, after the last several years, we now have an opportunity to have a productive partnership with the United States government,” Meta’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said regarding his talks with Trump, according to the New York Times. “We’re going to take that.” 

And so, apparently, is Paramount and CBS, as they turn over the unedited 60 Minutes transcript despite the fury of staffers.