Trump Sues CBS News For $10 Billion Over Editing Allegations In Kamala’s ‘60 Minutes’ Interview
Former President Donald Trump is suing CBS News for $10 billion, alleging that the network engaged in “deceptive conduct” for the purpose of manipulating the presidential election in its “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Harris.
The controversy stems from a preview aired by the network that appears to show a different answer than the one Harris gave when the interview aired the next day. Interviewer Bill Whitaker asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is “listening” to the Biden-Harris administration.
“Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” Harris said in a preview for the “60 Minutes” interview.
In the interview that aired, the vice president said, “We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
CBS just released a statement on this but they won’t release the full transcript.
I just went back and looked at the segment they previewed on October 6th. Check out the word salad about ballistic missiles they cut out of the answer before the one that they replaced… pic.twitter.com/1pKllTyP75
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 21, 2024
(VOTE: Should ’60 Minutes’ Be Investigated For Deceptively Editing Kamala Interview?)
CBS News has denied the allegations, stating that the segments used in the trailer and interview were both different portions of the same answer.
Despite the denials, the network has been hit with an FCC complaint, while multiple agency veterans have accused the network of engaging in manipulative practices.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told the Daily Caller that while the commission often receives frivolous and unfounded complaints in response to news coverage, the October 16 complaint is a serious matter that should be investigated fully.
“The FCC does not regulate, or really even respond to, allegations of politically unfavorable coverage or legitimate editorial discretion,” Simington wrote in a statement to the outlet. “The recent complaint regarding WCBS-TV raises a fully different set of issues regarding whether or not coverage was intentionally distorted: reporting that something was said in response to a question that literally was not. I don’t know whether that’s true, but it’s a different issue.”
On Thursday, former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against the network for $10 billion in damages. The lawsuit was filed after Trump’s legal team demanded the full, unedited transcript of Harris’ sit-down with Whitaker under threat of further legal action.
Attorneys for the former president told Fox News that the complaint was filed 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’s legal teams further alleged that the edits were authorized as part of an effort 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.
CBS has refused to release the transcript, citing First Amendment concerns. The network has pushed back on Trump’s “false” claims in a defensive statement released earlier this month, insisting that it had not “doctored” the interview and that the program “did not hide any part of the vice president’s answer to the question at issue.”
Trump is demanding a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages for the network’s 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.”
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