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Donald Trump again called for CBS to lose its broadcast license in an early morning rage post, part of his latest effort to undermine and weaken the news media.
The trigger was 60 Minutes release of a full, unedited transcript of its interview with Kamala Harris.
Trump has long claimed that an edit in the interview was deceptive in a way to make Harris look better and improve her electoral chances. In a Face the Nation promo, Harris was shown answering a question about Gaza and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu that was different than the answer she gave on the 60 Minutes broadcast a day later.
CBS News has contended that there was no deception, and that the edit was merely for time purposes. One part of the answer was shown on Face the Nation; the other part on 60 Minutes. The unedited transcript confirmed what they have been saying all along.
But to little surprise, Trump didn’t drop the matter. He filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS last October under Texas’ Deceptive Practices Act, and even though many legal experts see the litigation as dubious at best, sources say that CBS-parent Paramount Global is in talks to settle the matter. The company is seeking regulatory approval of its acquisition by Skydance.
In the post, Trump wrote, “CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before. They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election changing answers to questions, and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview. This was Election changing ‘stuff,’ Election Interference and, quite simply, Election Fraud at a level never seen before. CBS should lose its license, and the cheaters at 60 Minutes should all be thrown out, and this disreputable ‘NEWS’ show should be immediately terminated. With the new Democrat scandal that just arose with respect to USAID illegally paying large sums of money to Politico and other media outlets, the question must me asked, was CBS paid for committing this FRAUD??? Many other questions to come! This will go down as the biggest Broadcasting SCANDAL in History!!!”
On Friday, Trump’s legal team has a court deadline to respond to CBS’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Trump has previously called for CBS to lose its license, as he has other networks, including during his first term. The difference this time is that Brendan Carr, who he appointed FCC chair, revived a complaint against CBS over the ’60 Minutes’ edit, even though his predecessor, Jessica Rosenworcel, dismissed it on First Amendment grounds.
After CBS News turned over the transcript and video on Monday, Carr made the materials public on Wednesday. The show also posted the unedited transcript and video.
“They show – consistent with 60 Minutes‘ repeated assurances to the public – that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” 60 Minutes said in a statement.
But Carr has opened up a docket on the issue, with a public comment period that will run through March 24. That will add further delay to any resolution of the issue.
Broadcast licenses are not issued to networks, but to individual stations. The complaint was filed against the network’s flagship affiliate, WCBS-TV in New York.
