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Trump asks CBS News to release unedited 60 Minutes Harris transcript: ‘In contemplation of possible litigation…’
Donald Trump has sent a letter to CBS News asking the network to release the unedited transcript of its 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, Fox News Digital reported. Trump’s legal counsel Edward Andrew Paltzik wrote the letter on behalf of the former president.
Paltzik said in the letter that CBS News “intentionally misled the public by broadcasting a skillfully edited interview transcript… aimed at causing confusion among the electorate regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s abilities, intelligence, and appeal.”
“News organizations such as CBS have a responsibility to accurately represent the truth of events, not distort an interview to try and make their preferred candidate appear coherent and decisive, which Harris most certainly is not,” the attorney added. “Due to CBS’ actions, the public cannot distinguish which Kamala Harris they are seeing: the candidate or the puppet of a behind-the-scenes editor.”
‘We demand that you preserve all communications and documents relating to this Interview’
The letter was sent after 60 Minutes broke its silence after Trump accused it of deceptively editing the Harris interview. In the statement, the network blasted Trump’s claim as “false.”
Trump’s legal team, however, has doubled down in the letter. “President Trump is rightly alleging that CBS’s ‘doctoring’ of Harris’s answers on 60 Minutes was deceptive. The allegation is not simply that CBS was dishonest; it is that CBS deceived viewers into thinking Harris’ answer was, at the very least—as CBS put it—more ‘succinct’ than the word salad it actually was,” Paltzik wrote. “The executives and producers at CBS, and 60 Minutes in particular, are unquestionably aware that the purpose behind editing the Interview was to confuse the electorate and portray the Vice President in a better light than a full, unedited transcript would reveal. Responsible news sources must be held accountable to the highest standards.”
“We therefore demand that you immediately provide and publicly release the full, unedited transcript of the 60 Minutes Interview with Kamala Harris. Additionally, in contemplation of possible litigation, we demand that you preserve all communications and documents relating to this Interview, together with any edits of the Interview’s content, and that you refrain from destroying any relevant communications or documents. Kindly confirm receipt of this letter within 48 hours and further confirm your intention to cooperate with these demands,” the letter added.
Meanwhile, Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday, October 21, “When will CBS release their Transcript of the fraudulent Interview with Comrade Kamala Harris? They changed her answer in order to make Kamala look intelligent, rather than “dumb as a rock.” This may be the Biggest Scandal in Broadcast History! CBS MUST GET THE TRANSCRIPT OUT NOW — Litigation has already started. Harris wasn’t able to put two sentences together, so they completely removed her answer, and put in another one. The Public has a right to know what was changed to save this TOTALLY UNFIT Presidential Candidate from our Country’s Voters. SHE IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!”