CBS hits back at Trump's legal threat citing First Amendment rights: 'We decline' to release full transcript
CBS News fired back at former President Trump's legal threat against the network over its "60 Minutes" interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, insisting he has no legal standing as CBS News is protected by the First Amendment.
Earlier this week, Fox News Digital first reported on the letter Trump's attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik sent to CBS News on behalf of his client demanding the network release the full transcript of the "60 Minutes" interview after the network aired two different answers to the same question. Trump's attorney also asked CBS to preserve all documents and communications related to the interview pending a potential legal battle.
CBS News has refused to release the full transcript, according to a letter that CBS News sent to Paltzik in response that has been obtained by Fox News Digital.
"Your letter on behalf of Mr. Trump is based on the faulty premise that 60 MINUTES distorted its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris ('the Interview') in order to present her in a positive light. That, as 60 MINUTES has said in its Statement, is false," CBS News' senior vice president of legal affairs Gayle C. Sproul began her letter on Wednesday to Paltzik.
The network rejected Trump's assertion that it "conceded" that it had "doctored" the Harris interview to mislead the American people, insisting "The Interview was not doctored" and the program "did not hide any part of the Vice President’s answer to the question at issue."
"60 MINUTES fairly presented the Interview to inform the viewing audience, and not to mislead it. Indeed, your contention that 60 MINUTES acted nefariously is entirely unfounded," Sproul wrote.
"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," she continued. "Editing is a necessity for all broadcasters to enable them to present the news in the time available, and that is what 60 MINUTES did here, as it does with its other reports."
CBS then cited the First Amendment and declined to release the unedited transcript despite widespread calls to do so.
"The First Amendment fiercely protects these editorial judgments… For that reason, no private right of action exists here and I note that you do not identify one. Nor is there any legal basis for your demand that we provide you with the unedited transcript of the Interview, which we decline to do," Sproul continued.
Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, told Fox News Digital: "As President Trump stated - CBS committed the worst wrongdoing in broadcast history when they maliciously and deceptively doctored Lyin’ Kamala Harris’ pathetic 60 Minutes interview. CBS is on notice to preserve their documents."
The controversy stemmed from an exchange Harris had with "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker. In a preview clip that aired on "Face The Nation," Harris was asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the U.S.
"Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded in the "Face the Nation" clip.
Harris was mocked by conservatives for offering a lengthy "word salad" to Whitaker. But when that same question aired the following night in the primetime election special, it aired a shorter, more focused answer from the vice president.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the primetime special.
Critics accused CBS News of editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield the vice president from further backlash and there has been growing calls for the network to release the full transcript after it only shared transcripts of what had aired.
However, CBS News did release its full transcript of its 2021 interview with Harris, which included exchanges that did not make it to air.
Trump dramatically called it possibly the "biggest scandal in broadcast history" in a message posted to X.
On Sunday, CBS News released a statement saying Trump’s claim that "deceitful editing" was used is "false," and explained that producers used a "more succinct" portion of Harris’ answer.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.