Paramount Global And CBS‘ legal team issued a broadside against Donald Trump‘s $20 billion lawsuit over the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris, as the network has characterized the litigation as an “affront to the First Amendment.”
Last month, Trump’s legal team filed an amended complaint, claiming that CBS deceptively edited the interview in a way that cost traffic and viewership to his own media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes his social media platform Truth Social.
In a motion to dismiss filed today, CBS’ legal team contended that the lawsuit “is without basis in law or fact.” The network said that the litigation was the president’s effort to seek to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like. They not only ask for $20 billion in damages but also seek an order directing how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future. The First Amendment stands resolutely against these demands.”
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Read the Paramount Global/CBS motion for dismissal.
Trump’s lawsuit was originally filed in October, just weeks after 60 Minutes aired an interview with Harris in which she is shown giving a different answer to a question than one that was shown on a Face the Nation preview for the broadcast.
At one point in the interview, correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris why Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the Biden administration.
Harris answered, “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. And we’re not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
Harris was shown giving the first part of her answer on Face the Nation, and the second part on 60 Minutes.
CBS has said that the edit was not deceptive and is a standard practice in the business due to time constraints.
Trump, though, has claimed that the edit was done to boost Harris’ electoral chances. His initial lawsuit was filed before the presidential election, and was a violation of Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act, while adding Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) as a plaintiff. After CBS’ legal team pointed out that he won the race, he amended the complaint, not only citing the Texas law but an alleged violation of the federal Lanham Act. The Texas law and the federal law are directed at false advertising.
In their latest filing, CBS’ legal team all but says what many political observers have: The lawsuit is frivolous. They wrote that Trump and Jackson “have not and cannot plead the most basic elements of their claims.” They wrote that Trump failed to “plausibly allege even the foundation of the claim: that CBS’ news programming is ‘commercial advertising or promotion.’”
CBS also is seeking dismissal on the grounds that Trump lacks jurisdiction by filing the case in Texas, accusing him of engaging in “forum-shopping” to try to get a better outcome.
What has caused consternation at CBS is that Paramount Global is seeking federal regulatory approval of its acquisition by Skydance. The company and Trump’s team have confirmed that that have been in settlement talks, sparking worries that the network would deliver a payout to the president to try to ease the way for the merger’s completion. Trump has said that he is asking for “a lot” of money to settle the case.
The latest filing also calls into question Trump’s assertions of harm from the broadcast. CBS’s legal team noted that the alleged damages are to his presidential campaign or to Truth Social, but not to he himself. Moreover, his legal team wrote, Truth Social’s share price “allegedly ‘skyrocketed nearly 75%’ in the same month” that the Face the Nation and 60 Minutes broadcasts aired, while Trump’s victory in the election “has mooted the need for relief for any ostensible injury to his campaign.”
Brendan Carr, appointed chairman of the FCC by Trump, revived a conservative group’s complaint over the 60 Minutes broadcast. As part of an inquiry, CBS turned over an unedited transcript of the Harris interview. It showed what the network has said all along: One part of Harris’ answer was featured on Face the Nation and the other part on 60 Minutes. Nevertheless, Carr opened a public docket to collect comment on the complaint.
The post Paramount Global And CBS Seek Dismissal Of Donald Trump’s ’60 Minutes’ Lawsuit: “An Affront To The First Amendment” appeared first on Deadline.
