Former President Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting Inc. and CBS Interactive Inc., seeking $10 billion in damages over a controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The legal action, announced on Thursday, has already drawn harsh criticism from First Amendment attorneys, who have labeled the suit as “frivolous and dangerous.”
The complaint, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that CBS’ interview and related content amounted to “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference.”
Trump’s legal team claims that the network’s coverage aimed to mislead the public and sway the presidential election in Harris’s favor.
In addition to monetary damages, Trump is demanding that CBS “publicly release the full, unedited transcript” of Harris’s interview.
The case was filed in Texas, where any lawsuit brought in the Amarillo Division is automatically assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee. Legal analysts have speculated that this could be a case of “judge shopping,” where plaintiffs strategically file lawsuits in jurisdictions believed to be more favorable.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the “60 Minutes” segment, alleging that CBS deliberately manipulated the footage to misrepresent Harris’s statements. The former president has even called for the network to lose its broadcasting license.
“To mask Kamala’s incoherent remarks, CBS went beyond journalistic discretion and engaged in deceitful editing,” the lawsuit claims. Trump’s lawyers argue that CBS’s actions constitute a blatant attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
In response, CBS has categorically denied the allegations.
A spokesperson said, “The interview was not doctored, and ‘60 Minutes’ presented Vice President Harris’s answers fairly and without misleading the public. The lawsuit is baseless, and we will defend against it vigorously.”
Legal experts were quick to dismiss Trump’s claims. Charles Tobin, a prominent First Amendment attorney, called the lawsuit a “dangerous attempt to control the news media” and emphasized that the First Amendment guarantees press freedom.
“The Supreme Court has made it clear: journalists, not politicians or courts, decide how to report the news,” Tobin said.
Floyd Abrams, renowned for his work on the Pentagon Papers case, echoed Tobin’s sentiments. “The First Amendment protects the press from precisely this type of litigation,” he told CNN.
Rebecca Tushnet, a Harvard Law professor specializing in First Amendment law, bluntly labeled the lawsuit “ridiculous junk” and said it should be mocked.
Trump addressed the lawsuit during a rally in Henderson, Nevada, saying, “In honor of you, I just sued CBS today.” His campaign later issued a statement denying that it had ever agreed to an earlier interview with “60 Minutes.”
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