The New York Times said that it will “not be deterred by the administration’s intimidation tactics,” after Donald Trump threatened to sue the outlet over its reporting on his lawsuit against CBS over the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris.
The Times reported on Tuesday that the board of CBS’ parent, Paramount Global, had approved acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement, with mediation to begin today.
In the story, the Times wrote that “legal experts have called the suit baseless and an easy victory for CBS.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “They don’t mean that, they just have a non curable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, possibly to the point where the Times’ interjection makes them liable for tortious interference, including in Elections, which we are intently studying.”
A spokesperson for the Times said that Trump’s post “follows a long list of legal threats aimed at discouraging or penalizing independent reporting about the administration. The law is clear and protects a strong free press and favors an informed American public.”
Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit claims that 60 Minutes deceptively edited an Oct. 7 interview with Harris to boost her election chances. CBS eventually released the unedited transcript of the interview, which the network said shows that the edits were standard industry practice and done so in the interest of time.
Trump won the 2024 election, something that CBS said made his damages claim moot, but he later filed an amended lawsuit that made a new claim of harm, that the 60 Minutes broadcast “improperly diverted” viewership to the CBS newsmagazine and away from Truth Social.
