White House Threatens CBS With Lawsuit Over Trump Interview

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened CBS News with litigation if the network edited an interview with President Donald Trump, according to an audio recording obtained by the New York Times. Leavitt told CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil that Trump demanded the 13-minute segment air “in full” without cuts, warning “If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.” CBS broadcast the unedited interview on Tuesday, months after the network’s parent company Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit filed by Trump over the editing of a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris.

The threat reflects a pattern of abuse of power by the Trump administration targeting media outlets for editorial decisions. CBS had previously settled Trump’s lawsuit despite arguing that editing for time is standard television journalism practice, effectively capitulating to pressure and sending a signal that legal intimidation of news organizations works. This capitulation emboldened further demands for editorial control over coverage of the Republican administration.

The incident occurs against a backdrop of institutional capture at CBS News, where newly appointed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has faced accusations of favoritism toward the Trump administration and compromised editorial independence. CBS is now controlled by Paramount Skydance, owned by David Ellison, a friend of Trump, and Paramount also purchased Weiss’s conservative opinion company Free Press in October. This consolidation of ownership and editorial control mirrors authoritarian media dynamics, exemplified by Trump’s pattern of weaponizing government power against business competitors and those who do not demonstrate absolute loyalty.

Weiss’s tenure has been marked by decisions that benefit the Trump administration, including pulling a 60 Minutes segment scheduled for December 21 about Venezuelan men deported by the administration, which veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had reported. Weiss cited lack of response from the Trump administration as justification, effectively allowing government non-cooperation to determine editorial judgment at a major news network.

The White House statement defending the threat claimed “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited” while simultaneously using legal threats to dictate how news organizations operate. CBS’s decision to air the full interview and maintain it was always their intention contradicts the original need for Leavitt’s intimidation, exposing how threats of litigation function as tools of control over media coverage independent of actual editorial disputes.

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/18/white-house-press-secretary-cbs-trump-interview)