Fox News legal analyst and attorney Jonathan Turley wrote in a blog post on Sunday that former President Donald Trump’s media lawsuit threat against CBS is “entirely unnecessary” in terms of its legal premise and in holding the media accountable.
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who often defends Trump, wrote that the Republican presidential nominee “should not sue CBS.” The blog post comes after Trump criticized the network on a Friday episode of The Dan Bongino Show for its 60 Minutes interview that it did with Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on October 7.
During the interview with correspondent Bill Whitaker, the Democratic nominee discussed her foreign policy stances for Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as her plans for the economy and for gun ownership regulations, among other topics. The interview was edited, containing several cuts.
Following the interview, Trump’s campaign called for the full transcript to be released, saying that the broadcast was “deceptively edited.” The network published the transcript of the broadcast interview on the night the episode aired, but many have called for the full interview transcript to be released.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the New York Post earlier this month, “The word salad was deceptively edited to lessen Kamala’s idiotic response. Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s full word salad, and what else did they choose not to air?”
The Post said Leavitt was referencing a response in the aired version of the show to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which differed from an earlier promotional clip shared by 60 Minutes.
“The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview. We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?” Leavitt added.
On The Dan Bongino Show, Trump said on Friday, “So I think I’m going to sue them [CBS] actually. I think so. No, you know what? They can’t defend it. And if they do, and even if they win, it’s going to be very embarrassing.”
Turley wrote in his blog post that while he agrees “with the criticism of the media, including CBS, in the bias shown in the election,” the lawsuit “would be legally groundless,” and “would fail,” adding that “the media is allowed to engage in such editing.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Harris’ campaign and CBS’s 60 Minutes press team for comment via email on Sunday morning.
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The day after Harris’ 60 Minutes interview aired, Trump accused CBS and the Harris campaign of violating “a major campaign finance regulation.”
“It may also be a major Campaign Finance Violation. This is a stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that is not recoverable – It will always remain with this once-storied brand. I have never heard of such a thing being done in ‘News.’ It is the very definition of FAKE NEWS! The public is owed a MAJOR AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY! This is an open and shut case, and must be investigated, starting today!” the former president wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Federal campaign finance regulations, however, do not apply to editorial decisions made by private news organizations.
On October 15, Trump posted about the interview again and wrote on Truth Social, “What 60 Minutes did in doing this was Election Interference and Fraud.”
Trump’s comments come amid growing tensions with 60 Minutes after he declined to participate in an interview. CBS correspondent Scott Pelley said Trump had initially agreed to a sit-down interview but later withdrew.
However, Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, told Axios that “there were discussions but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They [CBS] insisted on cutting out of the interview to do fact-checking.”
In his Sunday blog post, Turley wrote that “bias itself is not generally actionable. Moreover, there were moments where Whitaker did press Harris.”
He continued: “The threats of harassing lawsuits destroys any moral high ground for Trump. It is also entirely unnecessary,” arguing that “there is no lawsuit that could do the damage that the mainstream media is doing to itself.”
Turley criticized mainstream “legacy” media but maintained that “we need a neutral and objective media today more than ever.” He wrote, “CBS is a network with a history of true legends in this field…The current reporters and editors are destroying American journalism with their overt bias and hostility.” Turley concluded that “the public and the market (not lawsuits)” will be the ones to hold the media accountable.
A survey conducted by the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll between October 11 and 13 found that 85 percent of all voters believe CBS should release the full transcript, not just the broadcast version. Eighty-seven percent of Democratic voters thought the transcript should be released by CBS, as did 88 percent of Republican voters, and 80 percent of independent voters.
The poll was conducted among 3,145 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
