Donald Trump is attempting to sue CBS News for $10 billion over allegations of “deceptive manipulation” of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview. Their protest continues after the network’s “Face the Nation” program used a longer version of the answer Harris gave during their “60 Minutes” debate.
The former president filed the lawsuit, obtained by TheWrap on Thursday, after days of protests over the news organization’s falsification of his political opponent’s interview. He alleges that the “60 Minutes” interview was a form of “news distortion” used to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.”
“CBS’s partisan and illegal electioneering and voter interference through malicious, misleading, and massive news distortions designed to confuse, deceive, and disorient the public.”
Trump and his lawyers are seeking $10 billion in damages and a jury trial over the allegedly misleading editing of the CBS News interview. The suit alleges that these reflect “continuing false, misleading and deceptive acts; attorneys’ fees and costs associated with this action; and any other relief the court deems just and proper.”
CBS declined to release the full transcript of the interview with Trump and his lawyers, except to cite the First Amendment in defense of their reporting. However, they did issue a statement explaining how their on-air interviews are edited and how this particular response was edited.
“Same question. Same answer. “But a different part of the answer,” the “60 Minutes” statement reads. “When we edit any interview, whether it’s a politician, athlete or movie star, we strive to be clear, precise and specific. The 60 Minutes portion of his answer was more concise, allowing time for other topics in a longer 21-minute segment.
The suit was filed in the conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas, although neither party is based in Texas.
The former president harassed CBS about his “60 Minutes” interview for much of October.
“Giant fake news scam from CBS and 60 Minutes,” Trump said on his Truth Social account. “His actual answer was crazy or stupid, so he replaced it with another answer to salvage it or at least make it look better.”
He continued: “Fake news scam, which is totally illegal. Remove CBS’s license. Election meddling it’s idiotic and the fake news media wants to hide this fact. Unprecedented scandal!!! Were the Democrats forced to do this and should they be forced to concede the election? Wow!”
His rant didn’t begin or end on his social media accounts. The Republican candidate brought it up again during his conversation with Joe Rogan on the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience.
Trump said: “Kamala goes on 60 Minutes, and she gave an answer that a child could not give, and it was so bad, 60 Minutes took it out and put another one in.”
Rogan said: “They edited it deceptively.”
Trump continued: “It didn’t make sense either, but it was better.” “They took … well, it wasn’t liberalization, it was fraud. “It wasn’t an amendment.”
A moment later, Trump said: “I think what happened to CBS is the biggest scandal in the history of broadcasting.”
