On Thursday, former U.S. President and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump initiated a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS News, alleging that the network deliberately altered an interview with Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, which aired on 60 Minutes, to portray her more favorably. This legal action, as reported by various media sources, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of the Texas.
The lawsuit asserts that CBS engaged in “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” by distorting news content through “malicious, deceptive, and significant manipulation.” The core of the complaint focuses on two segments from the 60 Minutes interview conducted with Harris in October. According to the lawsuit, one of the clips was selectively edited to present a more extended part of Harris’s response about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian situation in the Middle East. Trump’s legal team argues that this edit was strategically designed to enhance Harris’s image and mislead the audience, putting Trump at a strategic disadvantage in public opinion.
In their court filings, Trump’s attorneys further argued that CBS overstepped its role as a media outlet by engaging in “deceptive manipulation” rather than fair reporting. They claimed that the network exploited its platform to assist Harris, essentially “papering over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ and glossing over her weaknesses” with the editing choices made. Trump’s legal team contends that this move crossed an ethical line, shifting from journalistic discretion to intentional distortion aimed at shaping the public’s view in favor of Harris. The lawsuit, if successful, could lead to a significant impact on how media outlets handle political reporting during election cycles.
