An attorney for CBS News pushed back against the threat of a lawsuit from former President Donald Trump Wednesday, suggesting to his counsel that he might be liable for attorneys’ fees or be subject to counterclaims if he sought to press further into the idea that newsmagazine “60 Minutes” doctored the presentation of its recent interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“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,” said Gayle Sproul, senior vice president for legal affairs in a letter sent to Trump attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik that has been reviewed by Variety.
Trump on Monday threatened to sue to force CBS News to release the unedited interview with Harris.
At issue is a segment of the interview made available to the CBS News program “Face The Nation,” which airs Sunday mornings, as a promotional teaser for what would appear later in the week on a special “60 Minutes” broadcast. The promotional segment used a longer section of Harris’ response than the interview that appeared on “60 Minutes,” which was edited to give viewers a sense of Harris’ views on a wider variety of subjects.
”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. 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,” Sproul said. “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.”
It’s the second time Trump and the show have been at odds. In 2020, the former president cut short an interview with Stahl at the White House that was being taped for presentation on the CBS News program. Trump subsequently posted a clip of Stahl at the White House, noting that she was not wearing a mask, and then, in a second tweet, suggested he might make available a tape of his exchange with Stahl before the interview aired.
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