‘Election interference’: Trump sues CBS over edited Harris ’60 Minutes’ interview

(The Daily Signal) – Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS today, accusing the network of “election and voter interference.”

“This action concerns CBS’s 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—which President Trump is leading— approaches its conclusion,” wrote Trump’s lawyers.

The lawsuit, which was first reported by Fox News, is over an interview Vice President Kamala Harris did with “60 Minutes.”

“CBS and its 60 Minutes producers intentionally misled the public by broadcasting and posting a carefully, deceptively edited Interview and transcript while opting to release other portions online. Such manipulative editing aimed to confuse the electorate regarding Kamala’s lack of abilities, intelligence, and appeal,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Trump demands at least $10 billion in damages and a jury trial. 

CBS did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. On Oct. 20, “60 Minutes” posted a statement saying that Trump’s accusations of deceitful editing by the news network were “false.”

The statement addressed the difference between the clip of Harris played on “Face the Nation,” another CBS show, and her response on “60 Minutes” to a question about Israel.

“‘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.’ Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response,” “60 Minutes” said in its statement.

After that statement, Trump lawyer Edward Andrew Paltzik sent a letter to CBS, demanding the network release the full transcript of Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview, reported Fox News. The full transcript has not been released.

The lawsuit accuses CBS of a long-lasting bias against Republicans. 

“This is not the first time that CBS has engaged in unethical and unlawful behavior through 60 Minutes to try to sabotage a Republican presidential candidate,” states the lawsuit. “CBS’s misconduct here is evocative of the 2004 Dan Rather ’60 Minutes’ scandal, where Rather presented four forged documents as authentic in an attempt to impugn President George W. Bush’s integrity regarding his service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972-73.”