Former President Donald Trump is suing CBS News, alleging that the network’s “misleading” editing of a recent 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris misled the public and unfairly disadvantaged them.

In a statement released Thursday, CBS News called the former president’s claims “completely baseless” and said the network intended to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which comes just days before the two candidates face off in the 2024 presidential election, centers on two clips from an October interview 60 Minutes conducted with Harris. One of the clips was edited to include a longer section of his response to a question about the conflict in the Middle East. Trump’s lawsuit contends that this editing decision was intended to intentionally aid his opponent and mislead the public, something CBS News has disputed.

“To disguise the weakness of Kamala’s ‘word salad,’ CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to walk the line between exercising judgment in reporting and deceptively manipulating the news,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit says the former president is seeking a jury trial and at least $10 billion in damages.

“Former President Trump’s repeated claims against 60 Minutes are false,” network statement says. “The interview was not manipulated.”

Trump’s legal complaint was filed Thursday in federal court in the Northern District of Texas’ Amarillo division, a remote location where the only judge was appointed by Trump in 2019. Republican-led states and special interest groups have directed at least 14 politically sensitive cases to that court since January 2021, according to the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US.

The lawsuit does not allege that Trump was defamed by the network, said Geoffrey R. Stone, a First Amendment scholar and law professor at the University of Chicago, who reviewed the complaint. Instead, the lawsuit attempts a novel use of a Texas statute intended to prevent advertisers from misleading the public about a product being sold: the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act.

Stone called it a “misapplication” of the law.

“That statute concerns sales: a seller can be held liable for claiming that a product has certain positive effects when it knows it does not,” Stone said. “But CBS is not in the business of advertising here.”

Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman, a constitutional law expert, said he was baffled by Trump’s claims and called the case an “outrageous violation of First Amendment principles.”

“This is such a poorly substantiated complaint that it can almost be sanctioned as frivolous,” Feldman said.

The former president has been expressing his discontent for weeks about the interview during the election campaign.

“Millions of Americans, including residents of Texas and this district, were confused and deceived by the two manipulated versions of the interview,” the lawsuit alleges.

In an earlier statement released by 60 Minutes, the network explained that the two clips were edited differently because one segment, which appeared on “Face the Nation,” provided more time to accommodate a longer section of Harris’ response.

“Same question. Same answer. But different part of the answer,” he posted on October 20. 60 minute statement saying. “When we edit any interview, whether it’s a politician, an athlete or a movie star, we strive to be clear, precise and punctual. The 60 Minutes portion of his response was more concise, leaving time for other topics in a wide spectrum. 21 minute long segment.”

Trump had been invited to participate in his own interview on 60 Minutes, but refused.

The former president has previously filed several lawsuits against media organizations, including a defamation case in March against ABC News over a question asked by host George Stephanopoulos during an interview.

He has lost previous defamation lawsuits against CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

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