Donald Trump is Suing CBS News for $10 Billion, Should Free-Speech Lovers Worry?

By: Jared Fischer

Edited by: Jonah Elkowitz and Clark Mahoney

Donald Trump gave CBS News a trick instead of a treat this Halloween. On October 31, the then-Republican nominee for president filed a lawsuit in Texas’ Northern District accusing the news broadcaster of attempting to “confuse, deceive, and mislead” voters by publishing two different versions of Vice President, then Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris’s answer to a question she was asked during her interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes last month. The difference between the two responses is striking. In one response, included as part of the full interview broadcasted on Monday, October 7, Harris gives a short, succinct, and mostly effective answer to interviewer Bill Whitaker’s question about the relationship between American and Israeli leadership. In her response to the same question that was published in a preview of the interview released on Sunday, October 6, however, Harris stumbles to find a clear message. The discrepancy in the quality of Harris’s answer between the two clips caused a stir online, and fueled further criticisms about the VP’s poor ability to answer difficult questions on the spot. It also happens to be the reason for the Trump campaign's most recent lawsuit, which seeks up to $10 billion in damages from CBS for what the Republican President is portraying as the media company’s covert attempt to portray Kamala Harris in a more positive light than in reality. [1]  

News of the lawsuit comes in the wake of a greater cultural conversation about the state and role of free expression in America. College campus movements and ensuing protests around the nation have stimulated new legal questions about the extent of free speech in academic settings. Similarly, members of both major American political parties have centered speech issues in their appeals to voters during the 2024 presidential campaign. For instance, Trump, along with many conservatives, has characterized some politicians’ attempts to combat so-called Covid-19 “misinformation” on social media as government censorship, in addition to other efforts to pressure companies like Meta and Twitter to take a more active role in cenosring content on their platforms deemed false by third-party “fact-checkers.” [2] Democrats, on the other hand, point to Trump’s history of demonizing, delegitimizing, and threatening media organizations as proof of his opposition to free speech principles. [3]

Politics aside, Donald Trump has a real and extensive history of taking legal action against unfavorable media coverage. In March, he filed a lawsuit against ABC, ABC News, and host George Stephanopoulos over comments the news anchor made about writer E. Jean Carroll’s successful civil case against the 45th president where she accused the president of sexual assault and then lying about their encounter. [4] The lawsuit concerned Stephanopoulos’s statement that Donald Trump was found liable for rape in the New York-based case, when the jury only determined the Republican president liable for sexual assault. ABC eventually settled the case with President Trump for $15 million. Nonetheless, Trump’s attempts at legal retribution have been generally unsuccessful. The President has failed to retrieve damages from lawsuits against CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. [5]

All of President Trump’s past lawsuits against media organizations sought damage for what he considered to be defamation. What makes Trump v. CBS significant, however, is that Trump has accused CBS of consumer deception, not defamation. Many jurisdictions around the country have legal protections in place to protect against consumer deception by penalizing businesses’ use of misleading communications practices to advertise products to consumers. Yet, in Trump’s recently filed consumer deception lawsuit, which specifically cites Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), Kamala Harris herself is the product, CBS the deceitful proprietor, and the American people the consumers. [6] 

Despite this creative interpretation of anti-consumer deception law and engaging in what some commentators have referred to as “judge shopping”–choosing where to file suit based on the perceived friendliness of the region’s judiciary system–most legal experts believe that Trump’s lawsuit against CBS is likely to fail, given its flimsy logic and problematic relationship with the Supreme Court’s general understanding of press freedom. [7] Though, it should not take an expert to recognize the blatant insincerity of a case that demands $10 billion in damages for consumer deception, especially considering Trump and the Republicans’ 2024 electoral win. Instead, the suit is more likely a symbol of MAGA’s bitterness toward mainstream media and the perceived hostility towards the right-wing movement’s leader. Trump engages in fraught legal battles with the media to fight back against what he and his most passionate supporters see as a corrupt media class, notwithstanding the low likelihood of success. 

Even if objections to CBS’s editorial decisions in its 60 Minutes interview with Harris remain—the broadcasting company’s refusal to release the full, unedited transcript of the meeting does raise some valid questions about the organization’s impartiality—attacking the media’s ability to editorialize content as they see fit through legal action is clearly problematic. [8] Although CBS says Trump’s claims about the integrity of Harris’s responses are completely false, the First Amendment should protect the right of press organizations to make decisions about what content to include in broadcasts, even if these decisions are considered by some, but especially partisans, to be misleading. [9]

While Donald Trump is likely to be unsuccessful in his bid to punish CBS News for protected expression, attempts by the government to censor free speech in the name of “consumer protection” are a very real phenomenon in many parts of the United States, and can be especially burdensome for institutions that are not well equipped to fight back. [10] Texas, where Trump filed his lawsuit against CBS, is an epicenter of these sorts of anti-speech proceedings. The state’s Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton was the subject of a recent ProPublica investigation on the subject. The investigation identified a concerning pattern that involved Paxton invoking the state’s strong consumer protection law to investigate, and sometimes prosecute, private organizations that facilitated speech perceived as hostile to the goals of Texas’s political leaders. [11] The use of consumer-protection laws to stifle free expression is incredibly concerning. 

As the American political mainstream turns increasingly adverse to First Amendment principles, it is up to the courts and, ultimately, the American people, to remain vigilant in the face of government censorship, wherever it comes from. In America, the way to rebuff poor media behavior is critique, not ligation. And, as it turns out, Donald Trump did not need the help of courts to marginalize his adversaries in the news. The democratic process completed the job for him.

Notes:

1. Trump v. CBS Broadcasting Inc., No. 2:24-cv-00236, U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas (currently pending) [Accessed December 1, 2024]. 

2. Zweig, David. “How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate.” The Free Press. The Free Press, December 26, 2022. https://www.thefp.com/p/how-twitter-rigged-the-covid-debate.

3. Stern, Seth. “Trump will try to destroy press freedom. We won’t let him.” Freedom of the Press Foundation. Freedom of the Press Foundation, November 6, 2024. https://freedom.press/issues/trump-will-try-to-destroy-press-freedom-we-wont-let-him/. 

4. Kates, Graham and Katrina Kaufman.  “Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation.” CBS News. CBS Broadcasting Inc, March 21, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-suing-abc-news-george-stephanopoulos-defamation/.

5. CBS News Staff. “Trump sues CBS News over 60 Minutes with Harris.” CBS News. CBS Broadcasting Inc, October 31, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sues-cbs-news-60-minutes-interview/.

6. Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.46 (1972), https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.17.htm.

7. Passantino, Jon and Rashard Rose. “Trump sues CBS over ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Harris.” CNN. CNN, November 1, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/media/trump-cbs-lawsuit-harris-60-minutes-interview/index.html. 

8. The Editors. “‘60 Minutes’: Release the Unedited Kamala Harris Transcript.” The Free Press. The Free Press, October 12, 2024.  https://www.thefp.com/p/60-minutes-release-the-unedited-kamala.

9. CBS News Staff. “Trump sues CBS News over 60 Minutes with Harris.”

10. Vogus, Caitlin. “Censoring news does not protect consumers.” Freedom of the Press Foundation. Freedom of the Press Foundation, November 5, 2024. https://freedom.press/issues/consumer-protection-law-censorship/.

11. Davila, Vianna. “Here are the organizations that Ken Paxton targeted using consumer protections laws.” ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, May 30, 2024.  https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/30/texas-ken-paxton-consumer-protection-law-investigations/.

Bibliography:

CBS News Staff. “Trump sues CBS News over 60 Minutes with Harris.” CBS News. CBS Broadcasting Inc, October 31, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sues-cbs-news-60-minutes-interview/.

Davila, Vianna. “Here are the organizations that Ken Paxton targeted using consumer protections laws.” ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, May 30, 2024.  https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/30/texas-ken-paxton-consumer-protection-law-investigations/.

Kates, Graham and Katrina Kaufman.  “Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation.” CBS News. CBS Broadcasting Inc, March 21, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-suing-abc-news-george-stephanopoulos-defamation/.

Passantino, Jon and Rashard Rose. “Trump sues CBS over ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Harris.” CNN. CNN, November 1, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/media/trump-cbs-lawsuit-harris-60-minutes-interview/index.html.

The Editors. “‘60 Minutes’: Release the Unedited Kamala Harris Transcript.” The Free Press. The Free Press, October 12, 2024.  https://www.thefp.com/p/60-minutes-release-the-unedited-kamala.

Stern, Seth. “Trump will try to destroy press freedom. We won’t let him.” Freedom of the Press Foundation. Freedom of the Press Foundation, November 6, 2024. https://freedom.press/issues/trump-will-try-to-destroy-press-freedom-we-wont-let-him/. 

Trump v. CBS Broadcasting Inc, No. 2:24-cv-00236, U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas (currently pending) [Accessed December 1, 2024].

Vogus, Caitlin. “Censoring news does not protect consumers.” Freedom of the Press Foundation. Freedom of the Press Foundation, November 5, 2024. https://freedom.press/issues/consumer-protection-law-censorship/.

Zweig, David. 2022. “How Twitter Rigged the Covid Debate.” The Free Press. https://www.thefp.com/p/how-twitter-rigged-the-covid-debate.