CBS has asked the FCC to end its investigation into edits of its “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview, arguing that the federal government risks becoming “a roving censor” trampling on free speech rights.
President Trump was furious over the “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Harris in October, in the closing weeks of the campaign. The president and other conservatives chided CBS after it was revealed that “60 Minutes” producers had edited Harris’ jumbled response to a question about the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming the edits amounted to election interference. The president has demanded “a lot” of money to settle the case, which many 1st Amendment experts call “frivolous.”
“CBS distorted the news by using its slice-and-dice method of journalism to justify cleaning up the Vice President’s muddled and meandering answer,” the center said in a filing with the FCC, arguing that “60 Minutes” producers had become “the vice president’s cleanup crew.”
The FCC, until recently, has typically taken a hands-off approach to complaints about editorial decisions, and court cases have set a high bar for such claims. The FCC has said it would “only investigate claims that include evidence showing that the broadcast news report was deliberately intended to mislead viewers.”
The Center for American Rights lodged its FCC complaint in mid-October, ahead of Trump filing his lawsuit against CBS in federal court in Texas. The lawsuit is pending.
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