CBS Wants Trump's $20B Lawsuit Tossed

CBS News' parent company is trying to get President Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against the network thrown out, arguing that it is an "affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact." Paramount filed two motions in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday to dismiss the lawsuit Trump filed over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that aired weeks before the election, the Hill reports. Trump filed the lawsuit before the election and amended it in February to double the amount of damages he was seeking.

• Lack of jurisdiction. Paramount says the case should be dismissed due to "lack of personal and subject-matter jurisdiction," Axios reports. Their lawyers also say it was filed in an "improper venue."

• "Naked forum-shopping." Paramount's lawyers accuse Trump of engaging in "naked forum-shopping" by filing the suit in a judicial division where the only federal judge is known for ruling in favor of longshot cases filed by conservatives, reports Law & Crime. They say the case involving New York-based companies has no connection to Texas. Trump added Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson to the case last month. The amended lawsuit described the former White House doctor as "a consumer of broadcast and digital news media content" who "has thus been injured."
• Trump wants to "punish a news organization." The plaintiffs want to "punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like," Paramount's lawyers said in one motion. "They not only ask for $20 billion in damages but also seek an order directing how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future."

• Background. Trump argues that CBS News engaged in "partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference" with "deceitful" editing of Harris' answer to a question on the war in Gaza. CBS and the FCC both released transcripts of the interview last month. CBS said transcripts and videos show the editing "was not doctored or deceitful. In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews—for time, space, or clarity."
• The Trump team's response. "CBS and Paramount committed the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history," Trump attorney Ed Paltzik said in a statement to Axios. "President Trump will pursue this vital matter to its just and rightful conclusion."
• Filings are a surprise. The "stinging attack" was a surprise, according to the Independent. Paramount had reportedly been considering settling the suit to remove a potential obstacle to its proposed merger with Skydance Media. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said last week that the agency's review of the deal was far from finished, Deadline reports.

(More CBS stories.)