On Friday, CBS filed a motion to dismiss the $10 billion lawsuit that Donald Trump initiated against the network. He claimed that the editing of Kamala Harris’s 60 Minutes interview amounted to interference in the electoral process.
According to a court filing, the legal team for CBS contends that the case should be rejected due to it being filed in Texas, pointing out that neither of the defendants—CBS Broadcasting, located in New York, nor CBS Interactive, based in Delaware—fall under the jurisdiction of that court. They are at the very least requesting that the case be moved to New York.
This lawsuit pertains to the edits made to Harris’ answer regarding Israel, which was shortened for the 60 Minutes segment. A more extended and less organized version of her answer was shared on Face the Nation.
Trump quickly denounced the inconsistency as the “largest scandal in broadcasting history” and threatened to take legal action, ultimately following through with a complaint claiming billions in damages, which was filed just days before the election.
The accusation leveled by Trump against CBS stated that the network engaged in “partisan and illegal actions of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and significant news distortion.”
Furthermore, it was alleged, “To obscure Kamala’s ‘word salad’ shortcomings, CBS misused its national platform on 60 Minutes, crossing over from lawful reporting judgment to deceitful manipulation of the news.”
In response to Trump’s imminent legal threats just days prior to the lawsuit’s filing, CBS issued a pointed statement.
“60 MINUTES accurately portrayed the Interview to educate the audience, not to mislead it,” stated Gayle Sproul, the senior vice president for legal affairs at CBS News. “In fact, your assertion that 60 MINUTES acted with ill intent is completely baseless. The Interview was edited to conserve time, aiming to ensure that the public could hear Vice President’s viewpoints on as many topics as possible in a 21-minute segment.”
Despite Trump’s extensive complaints about—and apparent fixation on—the edited footage, it appeared to have little adverse effect on his presidential ambitions; the Republican candidate ultimately inflicted a significant defeat on Harris during Election Day. However, the legal conflict is still ongoing.
