CBS News’ parent company Paramount filed a pair of motions in district court to dismiss President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit stemming from the “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Harris right before the 2024 presidential election.
One of two motions, both filed in U.S. district court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday, said the president’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.”
Paramount’s legal team wrote that Trump is seeking to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.”
“They not only ask for $20 billion in damages but also seek an order directing how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future,” they said. “The First Amendment stands resolutely against these demands.”
The lawsuit, which Trump filed in late October last year, accused CBS News and the “60 Minutes” program of deceptively editing the interview with Harris to portray the former White House candidate in a more favorable view.
Trump said in the lawsuit that CBS News engaged in “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” by editing the Oct. 7 interview with Harris. Critics pointed to the answer the ex-vice president gave about Israel’s war in Gaza that was not part of the full broadcast but was released online.
The president initially sought $10 billion in damages, but the lawsuit was amended in February with the price now doubling to $20 billion.
In the other motion, Paramount contended that “60 Minutes’” editorial judgements are “non-commercial speech that lies wholly outside the scope of both the Lanham Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.” The studio’s legal team also said the court “lacks subject-matter jurisdiction.”
The motions were filed after it was reported that Paramount had talks with Trump’s legal team about potentially settling the lawsuit, thinking that it would make it more likely that he would greenlight Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Apart from the lawsuit, CBS News is facing a probe from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that is led by Chair Brendan Carr. The investigation was opened over the same interview. Days earlier, CBS News released the full transcript of “60 Minutes’” interview with Harris.
“In making these edits, 60 Minutes is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public – all while working within the constraints of broadcast television,” the news program said on Wednesday.
Trump’s legal team is still of the view that “60 Minutes” committed “election interference.”
“President Trump is committed to holding those who traffic in fake news, hoaxes and lies to account,” the president’s legal counsel Ed Paltzik said in a statement to Axios.
“CBS and Paramount committed the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history. President Trump will pursue this vital matter to its just and rightful conclusion,” Paltzik added.
