FCC demands CBS turn over interview transcript

CBS News received a letter of inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission on Jan. 29, 2025, demanding that it turn over the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds” from a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes” in October 2024.

The broadcaster said in a statement that it would comply with the request, which the FCC says is its version of a subpoena.

On Feb. 3, 2025, CBS released to the agency the unedited video and transcript of its interview with Harris, then vice president and a candidate for president. The outlet later published the same material on its website, saying it demonstrated that the broadcast had not been “doctored or deceitful.”

The CBS investigation was one of numerous actions FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has taken involving news organizations since he assumed the agency’s top leadership post in January 2025. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is maintaining a running account of those efforts.

Carr said the investigation was focused on whether CBS had violated the FCC’s “news distortion” policy by editing the Harris interview in a way that materially changed the meaning of her answers.

In an interview with Fox News a week after the inquiry letter, Carr said editing an interview for length or clarity would not, by itself, violate the policy, but added, “The policy says you can’t swap answers out to make it look like somebody said something entirely different.”

The FCC investigation stemmed from a complaint filed in October 2024 by the Center for American Rights, a conservative law firm. The complaint was dismissed on Jan. 16, 2025, but was reopened by Carr shortly after President Donald Trump took office.

Trump had sued CBS News over the interview even before his reelection, seeking $10 billion and alleging the network’s editing of the Harris interview intentionally misled the public and unfairly disadvantaged him in the 2024 presidential race. CBS maintained that the allegations were false and the lawsuit lacked merit.

“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,” CBS wrote on its website.

The legal dispute ultimately ended in a settlement. Paramount, the CBS parent company, announced on July 2, 2025, that it had agreed to pay Trump $16 million. The settlement covered Trump’s legal fees, with the remainder designated for his future library.