CNN’s Jake Tapper goes on self-righteous monologue telling CBS not to settle Trump 60 Minutes lawsuit

CNN’s Jake Tapper has warned CBS not to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against them, which has the billionaire suing the outlet for a controversially edited interview with Kamala Harris.

The lawsuit, filed days before Trump’s election win, centers around a controversial interview with then-Vice President Harris who was asked a question regarding the Israeli-Hamas conflict. 

Trump slammed the network for allegedly editing Harris’ answer aired on CBS’s Face the Nation and 60 Minutes and referred to the editing of Harris’s answer as ‘the greatest fraud in broadcast history.’ 

Tapper, however, defended CBS in a recent monologue and argued ‘any American who values a free and independent press’ should be concerned about the suit – including Trump supporters. 

However, in a preview that aired on Margaret Brennan’s Face the Nation, the candidate was seen giving one answer – one different than the one that aired. 

CBS has said that the clips were simply two different clips from the same lengthy answer. The network recently handed over the ‘full, unedited transcript and camera feeds.’ 

After the transcript’s release, it became clear that several answers given by Harris – on  hot-button topics like Israel and Iran and her previous claim that Trump is a ‘racist’ – were edited out.

CBS defended its action, saying Harris’ long-winded response needed to be cut due to the show’s one-hour time constraint.

This is not an unusual editing technique in TV news, and CBS News maintains it is ‘not doctored.’ 

The president, however, previously alleged: ‘They took the answer out in its entirety, threw it away, and they put another answer in.’ 

Trump even demanded that ‘CBS should lose its license’ and sued the network for $10 billion under ‘news distortion rules.’ 

‘The suit is widely regarded by legal and first amendment experts as, well as one put it, quote, “a frivolous and dangerous attempt by a politician to control the news media,”‘ Tapper said. 

‘Broadcasters have a right to edit interviews, its editorial judgement,’ he declared.  

He argued that outlets in the past have exercised similar rights, such as notoriously right-leaning Fox News who made similar edits to a Trump interview in June 2024. 

The edits included one about declassifying the Jeffrey Epstein files, which Tapper also defended and said: ‘Fox had every right to make that edit.’ 

‘Now, did that edit make Trump look more decisive, less equivocating? Equivocating? Did it make Trump, therefore, look better? Yep. Was that why Fox did it? I have no idea. Maybe they just had some timing issues. 

‘Either way, it’s Fox’s right to do it just as it was Fox’s right to do it when they had Trump’s surprise visit to a Bronx barber shop on air, which they also cut down significantly. And coincidentally or not, flatteringly, Fox had the right to do it – and not just because cable and broadcast networks have different rules.’  

Tapper, however, warned that it was just a steppingstone for further restrictions against media outlets. 

‘Now, the 60 Minutes editing case would almost certainly fail spectacularly in court, according to legal experts. But Paramount Global, which owns CBS News, is currently trying to merge with Skydance Media.’ 

A merger which Tapper points out will need the approval of the Trump administration, or more specifically the FCC. 

‘Which under its new commissioner, Brendan Carr, has suggested that Trump’s news distortion complaint will be considered by the FCC before any merger can be approved.’ 

Tapper said insiders revealed to him that ‘everyone expects’ Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone to settle with Trump, prioritizing the $8 billion deal. 

‘[Redstone] is not concerned about her legacy/democracy or the work we do,’ one CBS employee told Tapper, who warned his latest lawsuits represent a ‘dangerous escalation.’