Donald Trump was the winner in the election against Kamala Harris last month, but CBS believes the past and soon-to-be current POTUS should be the loser in his $10 billion so-called deceptive editing lawsuit over an October 60 Minutes interview with the Vice President.
“Plaintiff’s attempt to punish Defendants for their editorial judgments is barred by the First Amendment,” declares a dismissal filing today in federal court in Texas by CBS Broadcasting.
In a separate document, the still Shari Redstone owned network said of Trump’s October 31 filed complaint: “The Court should reject President Trump’s naked forum-shopping and either dismiss or transfer the case.” Mocking the whole matter as no more than a “generalized grievance,” CBS’ memorandum on jurisdiction added: “For the foregoing reasons, this Court should dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint with prejudice …or, in the alternative, transfer this case to the Southern District of New York.”
Exclaiming that CBS blatantly violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which primarily direct at false advertising claims, Trump made good on Halloween on his threats to sue over an October 7 60 Minutes election special interview with VP Harris. An interview that the former and future POTUS says was intentionally edited in regards to an answer on Israel and the war in Gaza to give her campaign a boost.
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“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 claimed. “CBS’s distortion of the 60 Minutes Interview damaged President Trump’s fundraising and support values by several billions of dollars, particularly in Texas,” it added in a footnote
Trump himself had initially agreed to sit down for an interview for the special, but then backed out, CBS later said. After the lawsuit was formally put in the Lone Star state docket, the network went on to say Trump’s “repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false.” The former home of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather added: “The interview was not doctored and 60 Minutes did not hide any part of Vice President Harris’ answer to the question at issue. 60 Minutes fairly presented the interview to inform the audience, and not to mislead it. The lawsuit Trump brought against CBS is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it.”
The Trump team did not respond to request for comment from Deadline on CBS’ filing and response today. If and when they do, this post will be updated.
Trump has long made a tactic of promising to sue news outlets and others that criticize him, question his judgement or give space to rivals. It is rare that he actually goes ahead with it, as he did in this case, and very very rare such cases by Trump survive an initial court challenge.
Where this ones goes could also have a lot to do with how Trump handles the media or critics after formally returning to office on January 20, 2025.
The post Donald Trump’s $10B “Generalized Grievance” Suit Over ’60 Minutes’ Sit-Down With Kamala Harris Should Be Tossed, CBS Exclaims appeared first on Deadline.
