Donald Trump has sued CBS News for $10bn, alleging an interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes was doctored to cast her in a positive light and amounted to “election interference”.
The lawsuit seeking damages was filed in a US district court in Amarillo, northern Texas, which is presided over by a judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has a track record of friendly rulings to rightwing legal filings.
It came after Trump said that CBS should lose its license to broadcast news over the interview.
The former president lashed out after the interview, which aired on 7 October, featured a different, more concise version of the vice-president’s answer to a question on Israel and the war in Gaza than had appeared in the trailer.
In the finalised interview, Harris – on being asked if Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, listened to US advice – answered: “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.”
An alternative edit, feature in earlier pre-broadcast promotions, had Harris giving a longer response.
Trump’s court filing alleges that CBS is guilty of “partisan and unlawful acts of voter interference through malicious, deceptive and substantial news distortion”. It says the edit was intended to “confuse, deceive and mislead the public” and “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic party as the heated 2024 presidential election … approaches its conclusion.”
The 19-page legal brief includes a catalogue of politically weighted assertions echoing public statement frequently made by Trump. For example, it states that Harris – whom it repeatedly refers to as Kamala, rather than by her last name – “ousted” Biden in an “anti-democratic political coup”.
“CBS and other legacy media organizations have gone into overdrive to get Kamala elected,” it says.
It is not unusual for broadcast outlets to cut interview answers for reasons of timing and conciseness.
A CBS spokesperson dismissed Trump’s action as “completely without merit” in a statement issued to the Hill.
“The interview was not doctored; and 60 Minutes did not hide any part of the vice-president’s answer to the question at issue. 60 Minutes fairly presented the interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead it,” the spokesperson said.
“The lawsuit Trump has brought today against CBS is completely without merit and we will vigorously defend against it.”
Trump’s call for the network to be stripped of its licence was condemned by the Federal Communications Commission, the US broadcast regulator, as a “threat against free speech”. It said licences could not be revoked because candidates disagreed with coverage.
Trump has similarly demanded that ABC be stripped of its license for fact-checking him in his September debate with Harris.
