CBS News will provide the Federal Communications Commission with the transcript and camera feeds from a “60 Minutes” interview at the center of a complaint alleging news distortion.
The FCC sent a letter of inquiry on Wednesday demanding the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds” from an October interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris about her candidacy for president.
“We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do,” CBS News said in a statement.
The Center for American Rights, a conservative law firm, filed the FCC complaint on Oct. 16. It was dismissed on Jan. 16 but was subsequently reopened by newly appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, just days after President Donald Trump took office.
Mr. Trump sued CBS News in a Texas federal court in late October, alleging the network’s editing of the Harris interview intentionally misled the public and unfairly disadvantaged him. He’s seeking $10 billion in damages.
The network aired two different portions of Harris’s response to the same question about the conflict in the Middle East – one in an early excerpt on “Face the Nation” and the other on the “60 Minutes” full broadcast.
CBS News has repeatedly refuted Mr. Trump’s claims. In a statement published at the time, “60 Minutes” explained: “Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point.”