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Network spokesperson says documents handed over

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Agency chief has suggested he would release transcript

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Paramount seeks FCC approval for Skydance Media merger

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Paramount's CBS News

has turned over documents sought by the Federal

Communications Commission in an investigation of a "60 Minutes"

interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris, a network

spokesperson said on Monday.

"We submitted the documents to the FCC today," the CBS News

spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

Last week, agency chair Brendan Carr, appointed by President

Donald Trump, said the commission had reinstated a complaint

into the appearance.

Earlier on Monday, Carr told Fox News he expected CBS to

turn over a copy of the unedited transcript and video of the

interview by the end of the day.

"CBS played the same question on two different programs and

clearly the words of the answers were very different," Carr

said. "Was it edited for clarity and length - which would be

fine - or are there other reasons?"

Carr said he was "open minded" about potential consequences

and suggested he would release the transcript in the interest of

public transparency.

In October, Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS seeking $10

billion over the interview with Harris that he called

"misleading," and asked the commission to compel release of the

transcript.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Paramount

representatives were in settlement talks to resolve the Trump

lawsuit. Paramount is seeking FCC approval for an $8.4-billion

merger with Skydance Media.

Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez called the CBS

investigation "a retaliatory move" by the government against

broadcasters whose content or coverage it saw as unfavorable.

"It is designed to instill fear in broadcast stations and

influence a network's editorial decisions," she added.

The FCC is reviewing whether the broadcast violates "news

distortion" rules. Though the agency is prohibited from

censorship or infringing the First Amendment rights of media,

broadcasters cannot intentionally distort the news.

Carr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last week, the FCC reinstated complaints about how Walt

Disney's ( DIS ) ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between

then President Joe Biden and Trump, as well as a complaint on

Comcast ( CMCSA )-owned NBC letting Harris appear on "Saturday

Night Live" before the election.

Carr's predecessor, Jessica Rosenworcel, said on Jan. 16 a

nonprofit group that filed a complaint against CBS had failed to

provide sufficient evidence that the broadcast engaged in "a

deliberate and intentional falsification of the news."

The FCC, an independent federal agency, issues eight-year

licenses to individual broadcast stations, not networks.