Paramount seeks to have Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News tossed

• CBS News’ parent company Paramount is seeking to have President Donald Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against the network tossed. Paramount contended that the suit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.”
• Paramount filed a pair of motions in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday to have the lawsuit dismissed.
• Trump is suing the broadcast company over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, which aired weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

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CBS News’ parent company, Paramount, is seeking to have President Donald Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against the network tossed, contending that the suit is an “affront to the First Amendment and is without basis in law or fact.”

Paramount filed a pair of motions in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Thursday, March 6, to have the lawsuit dismissed.

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Why does Paramount argue it should be dismissed?

Paramount’s lawyers argue the president is aiming to “punish a news organization for constitutionally protected editorial judgments they do not like.”

The filings say that Trump’s lawsuit is not only asking for billions of dollars but is also seeking to “direct how a news organization may exercise its editorial judgment in the future.”

In the filings, Paramount argues that the case should be thrown out because it lacks “personal and subject-matter jurisdiction,” and the company’s legal team contends that Trump’s lawsuit was filed in an “improper venue.”

Paramount’s lawyers contend that the lawsuit involving New York-based media companies has no link to Texas, and accuse Trump of choosing to file his case in a court where he would likely get a favorable ruling.

As a result, the broadcast company is requesting the case be moved to the Southern District of New York.

What did the lawsuit stem from?

Trump filed the lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, which aired weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

The $20 billion lawsuit, which Trump filed in late October 2024, accused CBS News and “60 Minutes” of editing the interview with Harris to show her in a more favorable light ahead of an election where she would face Trump.

Initially, Trump’s suit sought $10 billion in damages but was changed in February to double that amount to $20 billion.

What is the portion of the interview in question?

The lawsuit accuses CBS News of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” by editing an early October 2024 interview with Harris, in which her answer about Israel’s war in Gaza was shortened during the television interview while the entire answer was released online.

CBS News and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the full transcripts of the interview in February 2025, and CBS News said they show the editing “was not doctored or deceitful,” adding interviews are “regularly” edited to meet time constraints within news programs.

How is Trump’s legal team responding?

Trump’s lawyer Ed Paltzik told Axios, in response to CBS News’s latest move, that the network and its parent company “committed the worst kind of election interference and fraud in the closing days of the most important presidential election in history.”

“President Trump will pursue this vital matter to its just and rightful conclusion,” Paltzik added.

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What is the bigger picture for Paramount?

The filings come after Paramount had reportedly been considering settling the lawsuit out of court, which it saw as a potential barrier to its proposed merger with Skydance Media.