CBS News Rejects Trump’s Demands Amid Threat: ‘No Legal Basis to Sue’
CBS
CBS News’s legal team rebuffed a demand from former President Donald Trump’s attorneys to see its full, unedited 60 minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
On Wednesday, the network called the demand “political” in nature and vowed to defend its editorial practices in court if necessary in a letter to the former president’s legal team.
Trump and Harris were both offered spots on the program earlier this month. Trump declined the interview, and when Harris’s aired, he accused CBS of deceptively editing her response to a question on America’s global influence. His legal team quickly demanded to see the interview and documentation related to it in full – charging the show went out of its way to portray Harris positively.
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported Wednesday evening that attorneys for CBS declined the demand from Trump. Stelter wrote:
In a blunt letter to Trump’s legal counsel, the network on Wednesday said the First Amendment “fiercely protects” the editorial judgments made by “60 Minutes,” the network’s flagship newsmagazine.
“For that reason,” CBS said, Trump has no legal basis to sue, “and I note that you do not identify one,” the letter from CBS News senior Vice President for legal affairs Gayle C. Sproul stated. “Nor is there any legal basis for your demand that we provide you with the unedited transcript of the interview, which we decline to do.”
[…]
In its letter Wednesday, CBS said that the entirety of Harris’ answer has been broadcast. The first half aired on Sunday and the second half of her answer aired on Monday – two parts of the same answer to the same question. Still, the fact that two different clips aired on different days undermined the network’s argument that this was a routine editing decision and sowed distrust of “60 Minutes.”
CBS also called the demand to see the full interview and its transcript based on a “faulty premise.”
Two separate responses from Harris to the question from network correspondent Bill Whitaker were ultimately aired – which Trump has since said numerous is proof the news magazine is in the tank for his Democratic opponent.
Trump attorney Edward Paltzik sent CBS a letter that accused the network of having “intentionally misled the public by broadcasting a skillfully edited interview” that was “aimed at causing confusion among the electorate regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s abilities, intelligence, and appeal.” Trump has also publicly threatened CBS.
Paltzik demanded CBS “immediately provide and publicly release the full, unedited transcript” as well as “preserve all communications and documents” related to it.
In a Sunday statement explaining why CBS viewers saw two answers from Harris to the same question from Whitaker, the network said:
60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.
