UPDATED with FCC chairman comment: CBS News’ 60 Minutes posted the unedited transcript and video of its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris from October, a segment that is the source of a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump and an FCC inquiry.
The show turned over the materials to the FCC, but the agency is not dismissing its probe, in response to a complaint filed by a conservative group claiming that the network was trying to bolster Harris’ prospects in the 2024 election.
“The transcripts and video “show – consistent with 60 Minutes‘ repeated assurances to the public – that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” 60 Minutes said on its website.
The show said, “The issue here concerns one question from 60 Minutes‘ interview with Kamala Harris: whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is listening to the Biden-Harris Administration. We broadcast a longer portion of the vice president’s answer on Face the Nation and broadcast a shorter excerpt from the same answer on 60 Minutes the next day. Each excerpt reflects the substance of the vice president’s answer. As the full transcript shows, we edited the interview to ensure that as much of the vice president’s answers to 60 Minutes‘ many questions were included in our original broadcast while fairly representing those answers. 60 Minutes‘ hard-hitting questions of the vice president speak for themselves.”
Before CBS posted the transcripts, the FCC made them public, and its chairman, Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to lead the agency, said that they were opening a docket to collect comment on the 60 Minutes edit.
“CBS did not ask for confidential or non-public treatment of these materials,” Carr wrote. “Given the value of transparency & the public interest here, the FCC is taking two actions. 1. The FCC is making these materials publicly available. 2. The FCC has concluded that establishing a docket and seeking comment on the issues raised in the complaint would serve the public interest. The people will have a chance to weigh in.”
Comments are due March 7; reply comments are due March 24.
Since the broadcast, 60 Minutes has insisted that the edit was made because of time constraints — and the unedited transcript bears out what the show has said all along about the answer being two portions of a response to the same question. During the interview, correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris, “But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening. The Wall Street Journal said that he — that your administration has repeatedly been blindsided by Netanyahu, and in fact, he has rebuffed just about all of your administration’s entreaties.”
Harris answered, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we’re not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
The first sentence of Harris’ answer ran on Face the Nation on October 6, as part of a promo for the 60 Minutes election special. But the next night, when the 60 Minutes election special was broadcast, it was the final sentence that ran when Whitaker asked his question.
“In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews – for time, space or clarity,” the show said. “In making these edits, 60 Minutes is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public – all while working within the constraints of broadcast television.”
It is unclear why 60 Minutes did not post the unedited transcript in October, as Trump began his attacks urging that the network lose its broadcast license. But at the time, when Trump’s attorney threatened a lawsuit, a CBS News attorney told him that there was not “any legal basis for your demand that we provide you with the unedited transcript of the Interview, which we decline to do.”
Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the network, claiming that it purposely edited the interview to make Harris look better. Paramount Global is in talks with Trump’s team about a settlement, as it seeks federal regulatory approval for its acquisition by Skydance. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Texas, citing the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which is typically used against false advertising.
A conservative group, the Center for American Rights, filed an FCC complaint over the segment, claiming that it violated the FCC’s “news distortion” policy. Under that policy, broadcasters are subject to enforcement only “if it can be proven that they have deliberately distorted a factual news report,” per the agency. But the FCC also notes that their authority to take action on complaints is narrow and that it is “prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press.”
Last month, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed the complaint, warning that the agency “should not be the president’s speech police.” But after she left the agency at the end of Joe Biden’s term, Carr revived it.
Four years ago, Carr had warned that a “newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official, not targeted by them.” Carr has said that the FCC needed the transcript to determine whether the complaint was valid.
In an interview on Fox News, Carr said “there’s no way that the FCC can adjudicate this claim without getting a copy of the transcript.” He said that they will watch the video to see “was it edited for clarity and length, which would be fine, or are there other reasons why the editing took place. We are going to take a look at that, and we are open minded as to potential consequences.”
In creating the docket, Carr has further delayed resolution of the proceedings — or any ruling that could impact Trump’s litigation against the network.
Democrats on the commission have blasted Carr’s decision as outside the scope of the FCC’s authority. Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement today that “the transcript and footage of this interview provide no evidence that CBS and its affiliated broadcast stations violated FCC rules. Having now seen these materials, I see no reason to continue pursuing this investigation. The FCC should now move to dismiss this fishing expedition to avoid further politicizing our enforcement actions.” She also said that it was “unprecedented and reckless” for the FCC to publicly share materials from an investigation before its conclusion.
CBS also has come under some criticism for handing over the transcript to a government entity, given the protections of the First Amendment.
