Trump doubles in CBS'60 Minutes' lawsuit and wants $20 billion now

President Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS on Friday, doubled the amount he claimed he owed the “deceptive” editors interviewed by Kamala Harris to $20 billion.

Trump sued the network in October, claiming that “60 minutes” violated Texas consumer fraud regulations when it edited Harris’ answers about the Gaza war. CBS attempted to throw a lawsuit, believing its editorial decision was protected by the First Amendment.

The president revised his complaint Friday night, adding new claims of “unfair competition” under the Federal Langham Act. The claim points out that Trump’s role as the owner of the Truth Society platform through CBS has been hurt.

“President Trump was hurt and suffered actual suffering in the news media industry
“The amount to be determined after the trial of this lawsuit,” the complaint said. The lawsuit claimed that “the ratings were improperly transferred to the defendant's media platform, resulting in lower consumer participation, advertising revenue and profits.” , to achieve social and other media businesses of Trump.

CBS released the full transcript and video of Harris’ interview earlier this week to meet the needs of the Federal Communications Commission. The transcript shows that CBS used part of Harris on “Facing the Country” and another part on “60 Minutes” the next day.

The lawsuit argues that the complete transcript shows that the entire interview is “manipulated”.

“The defendant's tampering goes beyond the communication about Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the lawsuit says. “It is a full cover-up of a incompetent candidate for Harris, which is basically motivated by a commercial interest and a fanatical partisan. ”

The revised complaint holds that “60 Minutes” also deleted other “Harris Word Salad, which makes no sense” except Gaza's answer.

The complaint was also revised to resolve CBS' argument to dismiss the motion. CBS noted that it neither resides in Texas, so there is no reason to file a lawsuit in Amarillo. If the case is not dismissed, CBS requests it to be moved to New York.

In response, Trump served as co-plaintiff in Amarillo's Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson. The revised complaint says Jackson, like Trump, is a news consumer who was “deceived and misled” by a “60-minute” interview.

The lawsuit says Trump's compensation for Lanham bill claims is at least $10 billion, in addition to the original Texas consumer fraud claims. The lawsuit also noted that Jackson had unspecified “significant damage” against the latter’s claim.

CBS has argued that the Lanham Act, like Texas regulations, only dominates commercial speeches and does not apply to political and editorial speeches.

“There is no serious argument that President Trump's claims are caused by business speeches,” the company's lawyer wrote in the firing motion.

CBS's parent Paramount Global is still considering a potential solution with Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter. Trump called this week to revoke CBS's license and the FCC must approve the pending process of Paramount and Skydance.

Brian Steinberg contributed to the story.