Former US President Donald Trump sued Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) on Thursday (October 31st) over his interview with Vice President Harris on the “60 Minutes” program, accusing the television network of interfering with elections and voters.
According to the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Texas Federal Court on October 31st, the interview broadcasted on the “60 Minutes” program early this month is allegedly “misleading” and “deceptively edited.”
The lawsuit seeks at least $10 billion in damages and a jury trial.
The court documents allege that CBS attempted to assist the Democratic Party in the 2024 presidential election by intentionally using a significant amount of false information to confuse and mislead the public.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in the court documents, “This lawsuit involves CBS’s partisan, illegal conduct in interfering with elections and voters through malign, deceptive, and hugely falsified reporting. The reporting intentionally confused, deceived, and misled the public, and as the fiercely competitive and Trump-leading 2024 presidential election neared its conclusion, it sought to tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party.”
Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS and demanded that the television network provide the full recording of Harris’s interview with journalist Bill Whitaker on October 7th.
In a statement released on October 20th, CBS called the allegations “untrue” and explained why Harris’s answers to questions about Israel differed between the segments aired on “Facing the Nation” and “60 Minutes.”
“’60 Minutes’ excerpted our interview for ‘Facing the Nation,’ which featured a longer answer than the one on ’60 Minutes’,” the network wrote. “Same question, same answer, but different parts.”
“When we edit any interview, whether with a politician, athlete, or movie star, we strive for clarity, accuracy, and context. Her (Harris’s) answers on ’60 Minutes’ were more concise, giving us time to discuss other subjects in the 21-minute program,” the statement read.
CBS also stated that Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview, but their invitation for the former president’s interview remained valid.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign team, had previously stated that the Republican presidential nominee had not officially agreed to the CBS interview.
“There have been preliminary discussions, but there have been no arrangements or confirmations,” Cheung posted on social media.
New Tang Dynasty Television contacted Trump’s campaign team for comments on the matter, but did not immediately receive a response.
A CBS spokesperson denied Trump’s accusations.
“Trump’s lawsuit against CBS today is baseless, and we will vigorously defend against it,” the spokesperson said in a statement sent to New Tang Dynasty Television.