US News

CBS News to Provide FCC with Complete Transcript and Footage of Kamala Harris Interview


President Trump has initiated a lawsuit claiming that CBS News unfairly presented its interview with Kamala Harris to provide her an advantage in the upcoming 2024 election.

CBS News has consented to submit its transcript and camera feeds from an October 2024 interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which is at the heart of Trump’s lawsuit, to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

On January 31, CBS News announced in a statement that it would share the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from its interview with Harris, who was the Democratic presidential candidate at the time.
Trump’s lawsuit against CBS was filed this fall, accusing the network of airing a deceptively edited version of the interview to omit an allegedly unclear response Harris gave concerning a question about Israel. The lawsuit claims the edits aimed to portray her as more articulate and intelligent.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Trump’s lawsuit asserts that CBS News intentionally edited the interview segment to enhance Harris’s appeal as she approaches the November 2024 election.

The “60 Minutes” interview preview aired on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on October 5, featuring a longer version of Harris’s response regarding Israel. However, the full “60 Minutes” episode broadcast on October 6 included a more concise version of her answer.

In addition to Trump’s legal action against CBS News, the FCC has received several complaints related to the editorial decisions made in the “60 Minutes” interview.

On January 16, just prior to her departure from the FCC, chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed the complaint against CBS News, along with other complaints alleging political interference by various broadcasters.

However, Rosenworcel’s successor, Trump appointee Brendan Carr, has revived the FCC complaint regarding CBS News in light of the controversy surrounding the Harris interview.

CBS News indicated in its January 31 statement that Carr had requested the raw footage and transcripts from the interview.

“We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally obligated to do,” CBS News stated.

The contention over the Harris interview records could significantly affect CBS’s operations. Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News is seeking up to $10 billion in damages concerning the editorial choices made.

Although Trump has accused the network of editing the interview for Harris’s political benefit, CBS News contended that the cuts were made to allocate time for other discussion points during the October 6 “60 Minutes” broadcast.

In an October 20 statement addressing Trump’s allegations, CBS News clarified, “‘60 Minutes’ provided a segment of our interview to ‘Face the Nation’ that included a longer portion of her answer than what was shown on ‘60 Minutes.’ The same question elicited the same answer, but a different section of her response was used.”

In December 2024, in a different matter, ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos reached an agreement to allocate $15 million for Trump’s presidential library, offer an additional $1 million for his legal fees, and issue an apology following a defamation lawsuit Trump brought against the network.



Source link

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.