CBS News tells Trump he can’t have a full interview with Harris

CBS

CBS News’ legal team rejected a lawsuit from the former president Donald Trump’s attorneys to see it in full, unedited 60 minutes interview with the vice president Kamala Harris.

On Wednesday, the network called the lawsuit “political” in nature and pledged 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 show earlier this month. Trump declined the interview, and when Harris aired, he accused CBS of misleadingly editing his response to a question about America’s global influence. His legal team quickly demanded to see the interview and related documentation in its entirety — charging the show went out of its way to portray Harris in a positive light.

CNN Brian Stelter reported Wednesday evening that CBS’ lawyers declined Trump’s lawsuit. Stelter wrote:

In a scathing letter to Trump’s legal counsel, the network said Wednesday that the First Amendment “fiercely protects” editorial judgments made by “60 Minutes,” the network’s flagship magazine.

“For this reason,” CBS said, Trump has no legal basis to sue, “and you identify none,” stated the letter from CBS News senior vice president of legal affairs Gayle C. Sproul. “There is also no legal basis for your demand that we provide you with the unedited transcript of the interview, which we refuse to do.”

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In its Wednesday letter, CBS said Harris’ entire response has been aired. The first half aired on Sunday and the second half of his 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 it was a routine editing decision and cast doubt on “60 Minutes.”

CBS also called the demand to see the full interview and its transcript based on a “flawed premise.”

Two separate responses from Harris to the network correspondent’s question Bill Whitaker were eventually issued, which Trump has since said is ample evidence that the newsmagazine is in the custody of his Democratic opponent.

Trump’s lawyer Edward Paltzik sent CBS a letter accusing the network of “intentionally misleading the public by airing a cleverly edited interview” that was intended “to cause confusion among the electorate about the abilities, intelligence and ‘appeal of Vice President Kamala Harris’. Trump has also publicly threatened CBS.

Paltzik demanded that CBS “immediately provide and publicly release the complete, unredacted transcript” as well as “preserve all communications and documents” related to it.

In a statement Sunday 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 his response than 60 Minutes did. The same question. The same answer. But a different part of the answer. When we edit any interview, whether it’s a politician, sportsperson or movie star, we strive to be clear, precise and to the point. The 60 Minutes portion of his answer was more concise, allowing time for other topics in a broad 21-minute segment.

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