Trump sues CBS News over 60 Minutes interview with Harris; network says suit is "completely without merit"

Former President Donald Trump has sued CBS News, alleging the network's "deceitful" editing of a recent 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris misled the public and unfairly disadvantaged him.

In a statement released Thursday, CBS News called the former president's claims "completely without merit" and said the network intended to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which comes just days before the two candidates face off in the 2024 presidential election, centers on two clips of an October interview 60 Minutes conducted with Harris. One of the clips was edited to include a longer section of her response to a question about the conflict in the Middle East. Trump's lawsuit contends this editing decision was meant to intentionally assist his opponent and mislead the public, something CBS News has disputed.

"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 claims. The suit says the former president seeks a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages.

"Former President Trump's repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false," the network statement says. "The Interview was not doctored."

Trump's legal complaint was filed Thursday in federal court in the Northern District of Texas Amarillo division, a remote venue where the lone judge is a 2019 Trump appointee. Republican-led states and special interest groups have directed at least 14 politically sensitive cases to that court since January 2021, according to progressive watchdog group Accountable.US.

The lawsuit does not claim Trump was defamed by the network, said Geoffrey R. Stone, a First Amendment scholar and law professor at the University of Chicago, who reviewed the complaint. Instead, the suit attempts a novel use of a Texas statute that is meant to prevent advertisers from misleading the public about a product being sold — the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act.

Stone called it a "misapplication" of the law.

"That statute is about sales — a salesperson can be held liable for stating that a product has certain positive effects when he knows it doesn't," Stone said. "But CBS is not engaged in advertising here."


Harvard Law Professor Noah Feldman, a constitutional law expert, said he was mystified by the Trump claims and called the case an "outrageous violation of First Amendment principles."

"This is a complaint so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous," Feldman said.

The former president has for weeks been voicing his displeasure about the interview on the campaign trail.

"Millions of Americans, including residents of Texas and this District, were confused and misled by the two doctored Interview versions," the suit alleges.

In an earlier statement released by 60 Minutes, the network explained the two clips were edited differently because one segment, which appeared on "Face the Nation," afforded more time to accommodate a longer section of Harris's answer.

"Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response," the Oct. 20 statement from 60 Minutes said. "When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment."

Trump had been invited to sit for his own interview on 60 Minutes but declined.

The former president has previously filed several lawsuits against media organizations, including a March defamation case against ABC News over a question asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview.

He has lost prior defamation lawsuits against CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Fox News edited Trump’s rambling answers and false claims in barbershop interview, full video shows

By Brian Stelter and Liam Reilly, CNN
Thu October 24, 2024

New York
CNN
—
The Fox News Channel’s recent segment about Donald Trump’s “surprise” visit to a barbershop in the Bronx resembled a campaign ad for the former president’s reelection.

Trump was seen taking questions and making small talk with Black and Hispanic barbershop customers and workers, some of whom were wearing “Make Barbers Great Again” shirts. The visit was part of “Fox & Friends” co-host Lawrence Jones’ ongoing barbershop interview series.

But the version of the visit shown on television was, to borrow a hairstyle metaphor, a crop cut. Fox edited out many of Trump’s rambling comments and false claims. Participants had to repeatedly follow up when Trump meandered away from the original point of their questions.

CNN reviewed a more complete video of the barbershop visit that was uploaded to Instagram on the day of Trump’s appearance in the Bronx and compared it to the segments that were shown on “Fox & Friends” on Monday.

Fox’s edits omitted numerous Trump tangents and exaggerations – a striking decision given Trump’s recent attacks on CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” for editing an interview with his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, earlier this month.

Trump’s complaints about “60 Minutes” center on an edit of Harris’ comment about the relationship between Israel and the United States. He has charged that CBS manipulated the Harris interview to “make her look better” and demanded that CBS release the unedited transcript of the interview, which CBS has declined to do.

Ironically, however, Fox edited several of Trump’s recent appearances on the network, including his visit to the barbershop. And some of the edits certainly make him look better.

The televised broadcast omitted Trump’s comments about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. He told the barbershop customers that “they just dumped 50,000 people — 32,000 migrants from another country — in Springfield, Ohio. They don’t know what to do.” The actual number of migrants in Springfield is far lower, according to the city’s own data. The broadcast also left out Trump’s gross exaggerations about crime in Aurora, Colorado.

One of the most telling parts of the dialogue began when an audience member asked Trump about finding a way to eliminate federal taxes in the future. On Fox, Trump was shown immediately answering affirmatively: “There is a way.”

But that response from Trump actually came more than seven minutes later, after Trump (and Jones) brought up other topics, including inheritances, the Keystone Pipeline, Ronald Reagan, Russia, and transgender sports players. Trump had to be nudged back on track several times by the unnamed audience member, who kept circling back, apologetically, and said “I wasn’t able to finish my question.” After he repeated his tax inquiry yet again, Trump said “there is a way.”

But on Fox, it was stitched together as one seamless back-and-forth.

Fox also cut some of the former president’s insults, as when he mocked the Wall Street Journal, a sister property of Fox. “Don’t listen” to the “Wall Street jerks or Wall Street Journal, cause they don’t get it,” Trump told the barbershop audience.

In another unplayed portion of the visit, Trump praised Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban and called him a “very respected guy.” That exchange underscored Trump’s tendency to favor autocratic leaders, but Fox decided not to share it with viewers.

A Fox News spokeswoman said every one of Jones’ barbershop segments are pretaped and edited. The Bronx edition ran for nearly an hour and was cut for time and clarity, the network said.

Trump’s recent appearance on the Fox News program “MediaBuzz” was also pretaped and edited. One obvious edit occurred when Trump began to repeat his false claims about the 2020 election – a sensitive subject for Fox since the network is still dealing with defamation lawsuits relating to its coverage in 2020.

“They came down to protest a rigged election,” Trump said, referring to January 6. Then there was a sudden cut, suggesting that some of Trump’s distortions were removed.

odejimioflagos:
Kamala is a great woman.

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EnlightenedUFO:


You have lost any credibility you had.
You are a truly a Christian of HATE

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-showed-pics-of-donald-trump-with-topless-young-women-claims-author-michael-wolff/

Righteousness2:
Dear Americans , the choices before you are Life and Death.
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Rescue your Nation from Doom and Destruction.
This could be last chance.

Vote for the best choice that supports:

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Righteousness2:
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Righteousness2:
Dear Americans , the choices before you are Life and Death.
Choose Life.

Rescue your Nation from Doom and Destruction.
This could be last chance.

Vote for the best choice that supports:
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You dont need a Seer or Prophet to tell you who that is.

EnlightenedUFO:


You are a very low-information person. Low quality individual.
If you don't want a trashing, i hope you quietly slither away.

Righteousness2:
Dear Americans , the choices before you are Life and Death.
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Rescue your Nation from Doom and Destruction.
This could be last chance.

Vote for the best choice that supports:
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You dont need a Seer or Prophet to tell you who that is.

Righteousness2:
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Righteousness2:


[b]Vote for the best choice that supports:
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[/i]

Righteousness2:


Vote for the best choice that supports:
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[/i]

Righteousness2:


Vote for the best choice that supports:
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[/i]

Righteousness2:
Dear Americans , the choices before you are Life and Death.
Choose Life.

Rescue your Nation from Doom and Destruction.
This could be last chance.

Vote for the best choice that supports:
- Family
- Borders
- Life of the Unborn
- ISRAEL

You dont need a Seer or Prophet to tell you who that is.

Righteousness2:
Dear Americans , the choices before you are Life and Death.
Choose Life.

Rescue your Nation from Doom and Destruction.
This could be last chance.

Vote for the best choice that supports:
- Family
- Borders
- Life of the Unborn
- ISRAEL

You dont need a Seer or Prophet to tell you who that is.