Paramount, the parent company of US television network CBS, has filed two court motions to dismiss Donald Trump’s $20bn lawsuit against the company, which has roiled the US media landscape.
Trump had first filed the lawsuit in October, claiming CBS and the flagship news program 60 Minutes deceptively edited an interview with former vice-president Kamala Harris in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, which he argues constituted “voter interference”.
One of two motions, both filed on Thursday in the US district court for the northern district of Texas, says that Trump’s lawsuit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact”.
“They not only ask for $20 billion in damages but also seek an order directing how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future,” the motion says. “The First Amendment stands resolutely against these demands.”
Trump said in his lawsuit that CBS News engaged in “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” by editing its 7 October interview with Harris. An answer Harris gave about Israel’s war in Gaza was released online, but was not part of the full broadcast, leading to criticism.
Broadcast interviews are typically always edited, if only for length and time purposes.
CBS responded on Thursday, saying Trump’s lawsuit was an attempt by government officials to “punish” journalism institutions for their editorial decisions, according to Axios.
“Plaintiffs President Donald J Trump and Representative Ronny Jackson, public officials at the highest ranks of our government, seek to punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like,” one of the CBS filings said. “This lawsuit is an affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.”
In a statement to Axios, Trump’s attorney Ed Paltzik said that the president was “committed to holding those who traffic in fake news, hoaxes and lies to account. CBS and Paramount committed the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history.”
Trump initially sought $10bn in damages, but the amount he is seeking doubled to $20bn in February when the lawsuit was amended.
CBS had also invited Trump to participate in his own 60 Minutes segment before the 2024 election, but he refused the offer. He did previously participate in an interview with the program in 2020.
