"... many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet.... In a preview of the interview that aired on 'Face the Nation,' CBS’s Sunday morning show, Ms. Harris was shown giving a different answer than the one she gave in the version of the interview that was broadcast the next evening on '60 Minutes.'... CBS News said that Ms. Harris had given one lengthy answer to Mr. Whitaker’s question, and that the network followed standard journalistic practice by airing a different portion of her answer in prime-time because of time constraints.... Mr. Trump’s legal complaint relied on a largely untested interpretation of a Texas law that prohibits deceptive trade practices in things like marketing products to consumers.... Regardless of the lawsuit’s merit... Paramount owns broadcasting licenses, [and] it needs the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission to complete its planned merger with Skydance...."
From
"Paramount in Settlement Talks With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit/A settlement, if reached, would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president" (NYT).
That makes it sound like an attempt at bribery. Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case.
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68 comments:
"That makes it sound like an attempt at bribery"
and, after All, Bribery is ONLY Democrats are allowed be involved with bribery!
How/WHY did 60 minutes doctor their interview, anyway? $$$? favors???
This is what I keep saying about Trump's lawsuit targeting the Des Moines Register and their ex-pollster in Iowa. It's got nothing to do with the election or dis/misinformation. It's to publicize the fact that every state has the kind of vaguely defined "anti-fraud" law used to persecute Trump in New York, and which could be used to attack anyone who gets crosswise with an aggressive prosecutor.
"Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case."
Or settle for a symbolic one dollar.
I doubt Trump is influenced by a few million dollars.
Bribery or, perhaps a bludgeon. Lessons need be taught. Taught in a way that won't soon be forgotten.
Why not?? It was an attempt of election interference by CBS
CBS bet that their deceptive edits would sway the election. Musk bet that his support of Trump would save him from Harris and government hostility.
CBS lost. Musk won. Trump should take the money and donate it to small news organizations with a fair reporting track record.
I'm a little surprised this didn't get a "lawsuits I hope will fail" tag. Everybody knows TV interviews are edited. And "to fit the time available" is a perfectly reasonable justification.
Unless they outright lied about what she said, I don't see how he has a complaint. And even then, he doesn't seem like the right plaintiff.
Settle and deny the merger. See? No influence peddling…
As usual, the answer here is more speech. In this case, the ‘more speech’ remedy should be a proscribed statement on Sixty Minutes that they intentionally edited the two segments in order to influence how voters should vote in the election, specifically for Harris and against Trump.
"That makes it sound like an attempt at bribery. Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case."
I have a solution. Trump can simply defer the settlement to a date after his term is concluded. Also, during his term he can set up a little room in the White House where gifts, settlements, and bribes can be stored. He can keep a ledger of all the swag in a book for the public to see like they do in Chica....oh wait.
would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president
Maybe, just maybe, this reflects the extraordinary hostility focused by US Media companies on the current sitting President.
Settle for exactly the same amount as the bogus NY case.
Trump's initial request was for CBS to release the full videotape of the interview. CBS/Paramount refused to do so (why if nothing was done out of the ordinary to improve clarity and fit time constraints?). That fact seems outside the current narrative attempt.
Make the white left pay for their treachery. Every day.
I thought this case was a counter to his NY criminal lawsuit. If it is election interference to not disclose payments related to a NDA to the public; then what is it when a broadcast news company doesn't disclose a possibly damaging statement made during an interview? After all CBS had a history of doing this during elections. I wouldn't settle.
Larry Ellison's son is involved
Follow the money
I'm curious why they included "J." in the name here. It's not like there's another Donald Trump around to confuse people.
Mighty fine pouncing, Mr. President.
"Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case." Ah the old roll-over-and-play-dead strategy so that MSM will fall in love. Point out where THAT has worked for conservatives. Convince me that CBS or any number of outlets won't continue with this for of lying for Team Blue without these kinds of actions.
I saw what CBS aired as a teaser. I saw what CBS aired on the 60 Minutes program. They would have been way ahead to give a cursory sort-of-apology on air. But, nope, can't admit bias no matter how obvious. Trump should announce any settlement will go to (fill in the blank with a conservative charity). Then mock them mercilessly.
A large portion of the money is going to the Trump Presidential Library.
And let's remember that it was CBS News - and again the same Fake News program, 60 Minutes - that forged Texas Air National Guard memos using Microsoft Word in an attempt to rig the election of Democrat John Kerry.
They were caught by several bloggers and the affair ended the 40-year-career of the anchor of The CBS Evening News - Dan Rather, an unprecedented event in the history of television news.
He should take their $25 million dollars and then rescind CBS's broadcast license. They are not operating in the public interest, as required by law.
I like that. No quarter would be my thoughts after what the democrats have been up to for 8 years now. But especially when Trump was out of power.’ Someone said they crossed a rubicon and they did. So get your mass pardons ready now for when you leave office. Every executive leader and lawyer will need a pre-emptive pardon. That is just the way it rolls now. Doing anything less than that is naive. I mean they are already talking about impeachment and he did have cabinet members and advisors serve jail time.
You cannot let that happen again.
Hell just send the money through about a 100 shell companies and then pardon everyone. Worked for Biden and the democrat propaganda sites didn’t mind.
I don't think avoiding settling equates to roll-over-and-play-dead. I concur that Trump can avoid the claim of bribery by giving to charity, but being aggressive in taking them to a jury isn't playing dead.
Derve Swanson said...
"He needs to settle the lawsuit and focus on the agenda voters put him in office to achieve, Ann... This is not all about entertaining you housebound boomers. C'mon, the rest of us have a country with a future we care about."
I think you are using incorrect terminology here, Derve.
House Boomers are the ones who hope the Trump lawsuits (Trumpsuits?) fail.
Field Boomers will cheer when the whole MSM-industrial complex burns to the ground.
Trump should proceed to discovery and seek to have all documents produced by CBS in response to Trump’s discovery requests designated as “non-confidential” under the protective order that civil litigants typically agree to, and then post those documents on social media.
" ...and that the network followed standard journalistic practice by airing a different portion of her answer in prime-time because of time constraints..."
Ha Ha Ha ! ! ! Yes, we edited it for brevity, we absolutely would never trim that hedge of Word Salad out of fear of embarrassment ! ! What utter dopes, thinking that would fly.
And moving straight on, to 'Trump must drop the suit, it looks bad': Appeals to decency are the last refuge of unpatriotic scoundrels. Sue them, then endow a School of Journalism at the University of Austin. They didn't 'edit' the broadcast, they substituted whole parts of the dialog and got caught.
MadisonMan said...
"I'm curious why they included "J." in the name here. It's not like there's another Donald Trump around to confuse people."
I wonder what they would do with Barack Obama's middle name.
But to your point, here's a Donald L Trump: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/meet-the-other-guy-named-donald-trump
"Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case." But perhaps CBS doesn't.
That's not bribery... it's just business.
@Derve: "more heads to roll at the places of employment (like the Japanese do, literally.)"
WHAT? Japanese business in Japan are notorious for life-long employment and sending bad performers to make-work positions out of the way rather than firing them. The country is highly genetically related -- it is a literal large extended family. There is little business conflict because they happen to be a cooperative and highly intellient family.
Japan's economy has been struggling due to stubborn pride and denial since the end of the Nikkei stock bubble circa 1990. They kept bad loans on the book for umpteen failed businesses, even as their population drew retirement money and the economy aged out of competitiveness.
Didn't CBS "bribe" Kamala Harris by helpfully editing her interview to make her appear as an articulate candidate of the favored political party??
That makes it sound like an attempt at bribery. Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case.
Are all contributions to building Presidential libraries merely thinly camouflaged bribes in your estimation, Althouse? Meade, you need to help your spouse with her TDS because she’s getting silly.
@EdwdLny, +1
Sorry, not bribery, but extortion on Trump's part.
Bush should have sued CBS back in 2004 for "Fontgate". But I guess getting Big Dan "the reporter man" Rather to retire was felt to enough compensation. And its nice for CBS to state as fact what CBS is asserting. They didn't edit it for "time", they edited it to make Harris look better. We know that, you know that, even Bob Dole knows that, and he's dead.
And isn't it funny how concern over "The chilling effect" only is in play when its a leftwing organization or news person involved. I don't remember the NYT's being "Concerned" over the "Chilling effect" when Fox news settled their billion dollar lawsuit with Dominon voting machine Company or fired Tucker Carlson. No, that was all for the good. LOL!
Go to discovery - lets see the video tape and see how CBS tried to cover for Harris and make her look better!
The appearance of bribery is overwhelming. If he doesn't settle it, I believe that he will lose the case due to free speech protections of the First Amendment. Even false speech is protected, when it's not commercial and not defamatory. E.g., the "stolen valor" case.
A low standard of liability for misleading political statements is very much contrary to Trump's interests, as his love of hyperbole would quickly make him a lawsuit magnet.
Settling for less than a billion dollars would be a victory for CBS.
I know I am an idiot for asking, but could you explain why this is extortion, Fredo?
Not only did they replace a long word salad like answer to a long question, they shortened the question and replaced her answer with a shorter replay that was part of her previous long answer, but not broadcast previously, making Harris appear more concise.
I would think "editing for time" would entail cutting some Q and As or shortening some answers, not changing the question and replacing the answer. It doesn't give a true impression of the candidate.
True. Which is why if the case does settle, he could demand no money, not even attorney's fees, maybe a nominal symbolic amount like $1, but instead extract a public admission of some sort bad act on the part of CBS.
I literally laughed out loud and the comparison between house and field boomers here.
Regardless of how it turns out, Trump is attempting to teach the leftmediaswine the folly of extreme bias and defamation. They don’t seem to be learning.
I agree that CBS should be able to edit their interviews how they see fit, even if it is to favor a particular candidate they prefer. If this case did go to trial I would hope that CBS would win. That being said, the Left has used lawfare for generations. And one important aspect of lawfare is that the process is part of the punishment. It causes one side to waste time, effort, and money. It can negatively affect their reputation, cause worry in themselves and other people who may be similarly situated. The left experiencing some of these ancillary negatives might help them rediscover the spirit of fair play they desperately need to adopt.
Trump is using the power of the federal government (if you don't settle, we are going to make your merger difficult if not impossible) to force CBS to settle. He did the same thing to Zuckerburg and ABC). He has also threatened to yank their broadcast licenses for bullshit reasons (apparently, he doesn't know that corporate CBS holds very few broadcast licenses).
After all your bellyaching about Biden using the power of the government to suppress speech, this is especially hypocritical.
Discovery might also reveal the e-mails, texts, and slack messages within CBS where they talk about needing to make her look better so she comes off better for voters. Who knows, maybe it will show direct collusion with the Harris campaign.
"Settling for less than a billion dollars would be a victory for CBS."
Yep. Just look at the colossal face-plant CNN had in the defamation litigation brought by Zachary Young (the Navy veteran working to extricate Afghans during the fall of Kabul). Literally during closing arguments they knew they were going to get wailed on by the jury and their head counsel left the courtroom to take a call only to return and ask a recess to proffer a settlement offer to Mr. Young.
It's NDA'd, but CNN was on the verge of a huge loss, and they nailed a hail mary. Young should not have accepted...these liars need to be bankrupted.
Fox didn't fire Tucker Carlson. They took him off the air and contractually silenced him. The top cable news show by a wide margin.
Remember all of the media concern about "chilling effect" back then? Neither do I.
Kamala was the most doctored up puppet in history.
All of her interviews - she just repeated strange memorized lines.
Of course the Democrat Party press/ legacy media - were there to help!
For Trump, $10 million is symbolic. For CBS, $10 million might be a cheap way to avoid the discovery process.
Fredo,
I assume that you know Trump sued CBS as a private citizen.
I assume that you do not know that the biggest fear from CBS is discovery not losing their license.
Unilaterally putting anti-Trumpers in prison camps? Unilaterally rescinding CBS's broadcast license? Your fascistic tendencies are really oozing out today.
Nothing is over until WE decide it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI
I caught that reference!
Precisely. Don't settle. Don't worry about winning a single dollar. In fact, lose money on the case (where winning award < legal expenses). What the public needs is complete discovery and disclosure in court.
The issue isn't the issue. The issue is the revolution.
I read that somewhere.
If Trump pursues the case and wins, that's not extortion. If CBS settles with him, that's not extortion either.
If Trump loses in court he has no grounds to demand any damages. In fact, it might be a tort if he did, and his lawyers might be formally disciplined for filing a frivilous lawsuit.
I recall when Sorros recently got his purchase of 200 radio stations approved, by donating money to Democrats. The problem of world governments is like mutually assured destruction in nuclear policy, Everyone must be corrupted to survive at all, so you are required to play along or the powers will take you down. An honest man can’t be permitted to survive.
The great thieves lead away the little thief.
That makes it sound like an attempt at bribery. Perhaps Trump needs to avoid settling this case.
Settle for $1, plus a complete release of the unedited transcript and video.
Expose Harris for the idiot she is, and CBS for teh corrupt hacks that they are.
Perhaps require the firing of one or more people involved in the editing process
"Perhaps require the firing of one or more people involved in the editing process"
This is actually a good idea. The people at the top seem to always have a "Get Out Of Jail Free" card of some sort, so it's hard to hold them accountable. The lower level drones don't have jobs that include perks like that and if some of them end up suffering consequences for what they did to help their bosses spread their lies, it might make it more difficult to find drones who are willing to help spread the next lie.
There's editing and there's editing. Only the complete CBS tape will reveal what kind of editing this was.
I attended every interview I ever arranged. I video-taped the entire encounter (pissed-off more than a few producers). Important to know the interview is never over until the crew is out of the building. When the 'Talent' shakes your hand and thanks you for talking with him and then switches to light banter - understand the mic is always ON.
1980, I let an interview run way too long with head of Launch Vehicles. The General was at ease and going nowhere near coloring outside the lines. The producer/interviewer (KCET - PBS for LA/Southern CA) had a decent understanding of subect matter and wasn't trying to push the envelope. As it turned out, all he wanted was LOTS of my guy talking on-camera.
What went on the air was not an actual Q & A session. It was a lot of scary stuff about strategic weapons systems and quotes and film clips of various "experts" claiming one bad thing or another. Then there was the interviewer; facing the camera on a set at KCET and somberly saying, "When we asked the man in charge of producing these deadly weapons, he casually replied..." We then saw the general commenting on something that might has well have been a weather forecast but his words reinforced whatever point the "interviewer" was making.
Bottom line - There was no interview. PBS was merely harvesting words they could use to make any point they wanted. You really can't hate the media enough.
Which is why i think it will go to trial. It costs Trump nothing and the people involved will have to testify under oath.
Paramount is so worried that Trump would block a merger deal that it's ready to settle his frivolous, written-in-crayon lawsuit against 60 Minutes. Any further questions….
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