Donald Trump isn’t known for admitting weakness or difficulty. But when it comes to legal proceedings, his lawyers aren’t shy about saying that he did.
Trump has sued CBS News and 60 Minutes over what he claims is their deceptive editing of an interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. The two sides are said to be in settlement talks, with the implication that the Trump Administration will not approve CBS’ parent company Paramount’s, planned merger with Skydance unless the suit is settled. It was reported this week that Trump rejected a settlement offer of $15 million. First Amendment experts have described the suit as “frivolous.”
The HuffPost obtained the suit this week and reported on some eye-opening language within it.
A self-respecting court would toss this out. https://t.co/EizLQi2pLI
— Jonathan ‘Boo and Vote’ Cohn (@JonathanCohn) May 30, 2025
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Trump’s lawyers, in the lawsuit, accuse 60 Minutes of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference through malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion… this led to widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including plaintiffs, regarding a household name of the legacy media apparently deceptively distorting its broadcasts, and then resisting attempts to clear the public record.”
CBS has defended itself and its journalists.
“In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews – for time, space, or clarity. 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,” the network said in a statement earlier this year.
Ironically, back in the spring of 2024, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) used the words “mental anguish” in reference to Trump’s suffering through his criminal trial in New York last year, which he also called “very depressing”:
Tommy Tuberville attacks the jurors, suggesting they aren’t American citizens, and says they’re putting Trump through “mental anguish”
pic.twitter.com/a6THPRZ4Jv— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) May 13, 2024
There was quite a bit of mockery of Trump for claiming “mental anguish” in the lawsuit language.
Donald Trump suffered “mental anguish” from CBS News’ editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris last fall, his lawyers are arguing in court papers-AP
What a snowflake pic.twitter.com/zRX34deah6
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 29, 2025
America suffers mental anguish every day it sees Trump on TV. pic.twitter.com/8MUkcdsZyZ
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) May 30, 2025
Trump’s “mental anguish” https://t.co/4TIGm6Ud7Q pic.twitter.com/y3u0gcaVy9
— The Right Is Wrong (@therightiswron6) May 29, 2025
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
