Left: President-elect Donald Trump on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 (NBC News/YouTube). Right: Vice President Kamala Harris interviewed on “60 Minutes” in a video posted Oct. 7, 2024 (60 Minutes/YouTube).
Lawyers for President Donald Trump fired back at Paramount Global and CBS this week after the media entities moved to dismiss the $20 billion lawsuit he filed last year over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, calling it a “shallow” and unconvincing attempt to “wield the First Amendment as a sword.”
Trump, joined in the lawsuit by Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson — a Republican from Amarillo who previously served as Trump’s White House doctor — filed opposition motions through his legal team Wednesday after Paramount and CBS moved to dismiss the case in March, citing lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, failure to state a claim, and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The companies filed two separate motions to dismiss on March 6; one for personal jurisdiction and improper venue, another for failure to state a claim and lack of subject matter jurisdiction. They had previously filed dismissal motions in December, but were required to refile after Trump amended his complaint in February to add Jackson and double the damages sought from $10 billion to $20 billion.
In trying to get the cases kicked out of the Lone Star State, Paramount and CBS argued that they did not aim the broadcast at Texas residents.
The media defendants also say that Trump’s lawsuit is an attempt to punish defendants for editorial judgment, which they claim is barred by the First Amendment.
Trump’s lawyers disagree.
“The fact that such commercial speech was issued by a news organization does not insulate Defendants from liability under the First Amendment,” wrote Trump’s legal team on Wednesday. “The First Amendment is no shield to news distortion.”
Trump’s allegations stem from two clips of Harris answering a question about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East. His lawsuit claims the network edited the vice president’s response to make her more appealing to voters and to avoid “one of Harris’ most embarrassing weaknesses,” which it claims was “her habit of uttering ‘word salads’ — i.e., jumbles of exceptionally incoherent speech that drew disapproval even from dyed-in-the-wool Democratic commentators.” The suit says CBS was “looking to profit from manufactured enthusiasm for Harris” by using allegedly “doctored” footage, which they claim was an “unethical and unlawful” attempt to “sabotage a Republican presidential candidate.”
In their filings opposing the dismissal motions, Trump’s lawyers said that “to support their shallow argument” to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue, Paramount and CBS “unconvincingly attempt” to show that Trump engaged in “naked forum-shopping.” His lawyers maintained that Trump and Jackson have “sufficient minimum contacts” in Texas and that their claims “arise out of those contacts.”
For the failure to state a claim and lack of subject matter jurisdiction motion to dismiss, Trump’s team said Paramount and CBS “seek to wield the First Amendment as a sword, arguing that they cannot be held responsible for illegal conduct, intended to mislead the masses and undertaken in the pursuit of profit, because such conduct was the result of ‘editorial judgment.””
“No matter how many times they claim the conduct at issue was editorial speech, that ipse dixit does not make it so,” they said.
Trump alleges that CBS’s editing of the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris caused “widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including plaintiffs, regarding a household name of the legacy media apparently deceptively distorting its broadcasts, and then resisting attempts to clear the public record.” His lawyers describe him as a “prolific content creator who directly communicates with his tens of millions of followers on social media, a media brand in his own right which competes with defendants.”
Trump has reportedly been negotiating a settlement with Paramount, which offered $15 million to end things — an offer Trump declined, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The parties have reportedly discussed a tentative mediation session scheduled for Thursday.
Trump’s amended complaint, which was filed on Feb. 7, condemns the Harris interview as “an act of unfair competition” and “unfair advantage” against his Truth Social network under the federal Lanham Act, in addition to unlawful “election and voter interference.” Trump is also claiming that CBS falsely advertised with a preview for it during an episode of “Face the Nation.”
