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Donald Trump filed an amended $10 billion lawsuit against CBS late Friday, adding a series of new claims over the network’s edits in a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
Among other things, Trump is now claiming that CBS engaged in unfair competition, alleging that it deceptively edited the interview in a way that cost viewership to his own media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes his social media platform Truth Social.
“As an owner of a significant interest in a media enterprise in competition with Defendants, President Trump was damaged by Defendants’ false advertising of the Interview and Election Special. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ misconduct, significant viewership was improperly diverted to Defendants’ media platforms, resulting in lower consumer engagement, advertising revenues, and profits by TMTG and President Trump’s other media holdings,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the new complaint.
His attorneys added, “The damages suffered by President Trump stem in substantial part from consumers’ withholding of trade by reduced engagement with content distributed by Truth Social and President Trump’s other media holdings, and was exacerbated by increased expenses associated with clarifying the true nature of the Interview and its content.”
Trump also added another plaintiff to the lawsuit: Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former White House physician, a move to try to address CBS’ argument that his filing of the case in Texas was forum shopping.
Trump sued CBS in October, after it aired a 60 Minutes election special featuring an interview with Harris. At one point, correspondent Bill Whitaker asked her why Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the Biden administration.
Harris said, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we’re not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
In a Face the Nation promo for the interview, Harris was shown giving the first sentence in her answer. On 60 Minutes, she was shown answering with the last sentence. The network released the unedited transcript this week and said that it showed that the interview was “not doctored or deceitful,” but an edit made because of time constraints. In fact, Fox News edited its interview with Trump from the previous June.
CBS has moved to dismiss the case, which it says is an effort to punish them for their editorial judgments, something that is barred by the First Amendment. It also argued that Trump’s lawsuit was merely “generalized grievance.”
Trump has targeted media outlets with numerous lawsuits, many of which have been dismissed. Many legal experts see his CBS lawsuit as frivolous, but it has landed just as CBS parent Paramount Global is seeking regulatory approval for its acquisition by Skydance. Sources say that Paramount Global and Trump’s team have engaged in settlement talks.
The FCC, which has to greenlight the transaction, has opened an inquiry into the 60 Minutes edit, even though the current chairman, Brendan Carr, has previously warned against government officials targeting newsroom decision making.
In his original complaint, Trump cited Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which generally involves claims of false advertising. His amended lawsuit now also claims false advertising and unfair competition under the Latham Act, citing its clause on misrepresentation in commercial advertising and promotion. It claims that the Face the Nation promo represented an advertisement, “misleading the American public and driving engagement with the Interview and Election Special due to questions about the authenticity of this programming.”
CBS, though, has previously contended that “editorial judgments are non-commercial speech that lies wholly outside the scope” of the Texas law.
More to come.
