Dan Rather Trial: Les Moonves, Andrew Heyward Scheduled To Testify, Sumner Redstone Also Expected

The chief executive of CBS and the former president of CBS News have agreed to answer questions from lawyers for Dan Rather, who has accused the network of violating his contract by giving him little to do after forcing him off the "CBS Evening News" in 2005.

Lawyers in the case told a New York State Supreme Court judge, Ira Gammerman, late Wednesday, that Andrew Heyward, the former president of CBS News, will give a deposition in late July, and Leslie Moonves, the chief of CBS, would do so in September. Mr. Rather is also seeking to depose Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of CBS.

Among other claims Mr. Rather is seeking to prove is that CBS mishandled his removal from the anchor chair he had held for nearly a quarter century in the fallout over a September 2004 report for the weeknight edition of "60 Minutes." The report, for which Mr. Rather had served as a correspondent, sought to raise new questions about whether President Bush had received preferential treatment during his Vietnam-era service in the National Guard. After bloggers in particular raised questions about the veracity of the documents that had been used to support the report, CBS said it could not verify their authenticity.

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