Donald Trump Sues CBS for $20 Billion, Amid Claims of 'News Distortion'

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

4 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

CBS raised eyebrows last fall when two of its shows aired Kamala Harris giving different answers to the same question during a "60 Minutes" interview. Donald Trump is suing the network, claiming $20 billion in damages, while the FCC takes comments on a public complaint of “news distortion." But what does the full CBS tape reveal, and does it even make sense for the FCC to regulate broadcast news, in an era of endless unregulated cable TV, podcasts, and internet streaming? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:22.2	Congress to guard your card because Americans lose when politicians choose. Learn more at guard
0:28.9	your card.com.
0:29.9	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch. CBS releases a full video and
0:41.7	transcript of its 60 minutes interview last fall with Kamala Harris as the Federal Communications
0:47.2	Commission considers a complaint of news distortion and President Trump doubles his lawsuit
0:52.4	demand against CBS to $20 billion.
0:55.0	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.
0:58.0	We are joined today by my colleagues, columnist Kim Strassel and Bill McGern.
1:03.0	President Trump has been calling for CBS to lose its broadcast license for months,
1:08.0	based on how the network presented an interview with Vice President
1:11.5	Kamala Harris in October of 24, about a month before the November election.
1:16.7	The interview was conducted by 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker, and what peaked Trump's
1:20.9	interest last fall was that a preview of the exchange that aired on different CBS program
1:26.3	faced the nation, showed Harris giving a different
1:29.1	answer to the same question. CBS has maintained that it was simply a different excerpt of the
1:34.7	same Harris response, and that seems to be borne out now that it has released a full version of
1:40.0	the video in response to the FCC. Here is that exchange where Bill Whitaker pushes Harris
	...

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