President Donald Trump demands $20 billion in damages for being manipulated by public opinion

The lawsuit was filed in October 2024, when Mr. Trump claimed that CBS's 60 Minutes program violated Texas consumer fraud laws by editing Ms. Harris's answers about the war in Gaza.

CBS, however, has dismissed the lawsuit, arguing that its editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment.

In response, Trump's team has added a new "unfair competition" claim under federal law, alleging that the plaintiffs were harmed by CBS's actions as the owner of the Truth Social platform.

The allegation is based on the fact that viewership was improperly redirected to the defendants’ media platforms, resulting in a significant decline in engagement, advertising revenue, and profits, which caused significant harm to Truth Social and Mr. Trump’s other media ventures.

“President Trump has been harmed as a competitor in the news media industry, and is entitled to actual damages in an amount to be determined at trial in this case,” the complaint said.

Responding to a request from the Federal Communications Commission, CBS released the full transcript and video of its interview with Kamala Harris earlier this week. The transcript shows CBS used part of Harris’s answer on Face the Nation and another portion the next day on 60 Minutes.

The lawsuit claims that the full transcript shows that the entire interview was "edited," specifically, 60 Minutes deleted "other meaningless jumbles of Ms. Harris's words" in addition to her answer about Gaza.

“This is a complete cover-up for an incompetent candidate, Ms. Harris, who is motivated primarily by commercial interests and partisan division,” the plaintiffs said.

Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, is still weighing its options with the new president, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump called last week for CBS’s license to be revoked.