House Democrat Accuses CBS News of ‘Corruptly’ Editing President Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ Interview

CBS News is facing a new accusation of making a misleading edit of an interview that aired on “60 Minutes,” but this time the complaint is coming from Democrats.The ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin, sent a letter Wednesday to CBS News’ newly appointed ombudsman, Kenneth Weinstein, asking for information about President Trump’s interview with “60 Minutes,” which aired last month.Mr. Raskin accused the president of “hijack[ing] CBS News’s journalistic integrity” and said the network now “responds like Pavlov’s dog to make any substantive edits that the president demands.”He said that several portions of Mr. Trump’s interview with “60 Minutes” were edited out — apparently at the president’s urging — from the version that aired on TV. The broadcast version of the interview was 28 minutes long, while a longer 73-minute version was posted online, but the full interview lasted about 90 minutes.The congressman took issue with CBS for editing out a section of the interview in which journalist Norah O’Donnell asked Mr. Trump about his decision to pardon Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws. Binance donated $2 billion to World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm co-founded by Eric Trump. The president declined to answer Ms. O’Donnell’s question, saying he’s “not concerned.” He also said, “I’d rather not have you ask the question.”Mr. Raskin wrote, “CBS omitted that entire exchange about potential conflicts of interest from both video versions, depriving the public of critical information about President Trump’s obvious pay-to-play pardon scheme and his obvious discomfort.”He also pointed out that CBS omitted Mr. Trump’s “boasts about his shakedown of the network.” According to a transcript, Mr. Trump had said, “Actually 60 Minutes paid me a lotta money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you. … 60 Minutes was forced to pay me — a lot of money because they took [Vice President Harris’s] answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing. … You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.”Mr. Raskin noted that CBS has said Mr. Weinstein’s job is to “review and evaluate editorial concerns raised by viewers, employees, and other stakeholders.” He wrote that the ombudsman is a “well-paid job,” seemingly referencing a report that said the position would pay $250,000 a year for about one day of work a month. The House Democrat referenced Mr. Trump’s “frivolous and outlandish lawsuit” against CBS over its editing of Ms. Harris’s October 2024 interview on “60 Minutes.” Mr. Trump had accused the network of removing a “word salad” from a portion of her answer to a question about Israel to make her sound more coherent. CBS and its corporate parent, Paramount, defended the editing but eventually agreed to pay $16 million to settle as it sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission of its merger with Skydance. Mr. Trump’s “absurd shakedown of CBS began to pay off,” Mr. Raskin wrote. “He extracted a $16 million payment and $20 million in free advertising from your parent company Paramount Skydance Corporation. He also forced CBS to install a monitor to police newsroom decisions and guard against anti-Trump bias — the farcical Orwellian role you now fill as ‘CBS News Ombudsman.’ And now, it appears President Trump has successfully coerced CBS into corruptly and misleadingly editing his own 60 Minutes interview.”Addressing Mr. Weinstein by name, Mr. Raskin wrote that “news ombudsmen serve as independent advocates for the public, investigating complaints and publicly critiquing their organizations when those organizations fall short. You have a duty to defend CBS’s editorial independence, rather than ratify President Trump’s influence over the organization’s coverage.”“The facts here are clear,” Mr. Raskin continued. “President Trump directed CBS to edit his own interview after suing the network for editing his opponent’s interview, and CBS complied with his requests. … It is one thing for CBS to make independent editorial decisions protected by the First Amendment. It is quite another to make edits at the President’s demand out of fear of retribution.”Mr. Raskin asked Mr. Weinstein to provide a written explanation of the “editorial standards you apply in reviewing complaints,” including whether “allowing interview subjects to direct editorial decisions violates CBS News standards.”He also asked for documents and communications related to the “60 Minutes” interview, including any “input from Paramount executives, CBS corporate leadership, or outside parties.”With Democrats in the minority, there is little they can do to get information about the inner workings of CBS besides sending letters asking for information. But their steady stream of letters seeking information on Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount seems to signal that if they regain the majority in the midterms, they plan on probing the details of the deal. Democrats and left-wing commentators have raised concerns that Paramount executives violated anti-bribery laws by settling Mr. Trump’s lawsuit amid the FCC’s review of the Skydance deal. While Democrats are expressing concerns about the journalistic independence of CBS News, Mr. Trump and the chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, are praising the network’s new owners. During the “60 Minutes” interview, Mr. Trump said, “I think one of the best things to happen is this show and new ownership, CBS and new ownership.”“I think it’s the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time to a free and open and good press,” he added.Mr. Carr said he is pleased with CBS’s new owners for, in his view, following through on their written commitments to “more fact-based, unbiased reporting.”CBS News did not respond to a request from The New York Sun for comment by the time of publication.

House Democrat Accuses CBS News of ‘Corruptly’ Editing President Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ Interview

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