CBS on Friday moved to dismiss the $10 billion lawsuit Donald Trump filed against the broadcaster after he alleged that editing in Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview on the network amounted to election interference.
In a court filing, CBS’ attorneys argue that the suit should be dismissed because it was filed in Texas, protesting that neither of the two defendants—CBS Broadcasting, based in New York, and CBS Interactive, based in Delaware—are subject to the court’s jurisdiction. At the very least, they are asking for the case to be transferred to New York.
The suit is related to Harris’ response to a question about Israel that was edited down when it was included in the 60 Minutes episode. A longer—and less coherent—version of the response was previewed on Face the Nation.
Trump soon declared the disparity the “single biggest scandal in broadcast history” and threatened legal action, eventually following through with a complaint alleging billions in damages, filed days before the election.
Trump’s suit accused CBS of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion.”
“To paper over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news,” it also alleged.
Days before the suit was filed, CBS responded to Trump’s threats of legal action with a sharply worded statement.
“60 MINUTES fairly presented the Interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead It,” wrote Gayle Sproul, CBS News’ senior vice president for legal affairs. “Indeed, your contention that 60 MINUTES acted nefariously is entirely unfounded. Instead, the Interview was edited for time with the aim of allowing the public to hear from the Vice President on as many subjects as possible in a 21-minute interview.”
Despite the extent to which Trump complained about—and seemed to obsess over—the edited clip, it didn’t seem to do much damage to his presidential aspirations; the Republican handed Harris a decisive loss on Election Day. Nevertheless, the legal battle continues.