More Trouble for CBS News as House Speaker Denounces Network for ‘Selectively Editing’ Interview, Removing Criticism of Biden’s Hurricane Response

The hits keep on coming for CBS News as it is facing more allegations of a liberal bias after Speaker Johnson accused its news executives at its beleaguered Sunday morning program, “Face the Nation,” of selectively editing his pre-taped interview with host Margaret Brennan, who was recently accused of displaying liberal bias while co-moderating the vice presidential debate. Mr. Johnson wrote on X, “CBS has been under fire for selectively editing their interviews to PROMOTE Democrats and UNDERMINE Republicans. Yesterday, they chose to cut FIVE important minutes out of my nearly 15 minute interview. You can be the judge as to why.”In part of the interview, the House speaker spoke about the Biden administration’s handling of Hurricane Helene relief efforts. The version that aired on “Face the Nation” excluded details about his trip to North Carolina and what he heard from people on the ground.“They had not been provided the resources almost two weeks out from the storm,” Mr. Johnson said in his full answer. “When I was there, 13 days post the storm hitting that state, people were still being rescued. They’re stuck in the high elevations and the mountains because the roads were down, and all the rest. So they need every available resource and all hands on deck.”In another portion of the interview, the House speaker addressed concerns about noncitizens voting in elections, saying he is aware that federal law prohibits people who are not citizens from voting but insisting Democrats’ actions are not quelling Americans’ concerns.CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell (L) and Margaret Brennan moderate the debate between Republican vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Democratic vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThe version that aired on TV cut out part of his answer in which Mr. Johnson said Americans have grounds to be concerned that noncitizens are voting in elections when the federal government tries to block states from purging their voter records.“Less than 30 days out…the Biden-Harris administration sued the governor and Commonwealth of Virginia to try to prevent them from cleaning up their voting rolls. See, that kind of thing creates a lot of doubt and concern in the minds of a lot of the American people,” Mr. Johnson said. “Why would they do that? Everybody should want the law to be followed.”The version that aired on TV cut from Mr. Johnson acknowledging that the federal law prohibits noncitizen voting to his comment about wanting people to follow the law. Another portion of his answer was cut from the televised version, including Mr. Johnson saying that Democrats are fueling questions about noncitizens voting by refusing to pass the SAVE Act, which would have required proof of citizenship to cast a ballot. CBS Mornings’ Tony Dokoupil interviews Ta-Nehisi Coates. CBS NewsA spokesperson for CBS News pointed the Sun to the full transcript of the interview, which was published online. Ms. Brennan responded to the outrage on X by noting that the entire “interview with Speaker Johnson was published online Sunday.” She shared a link to the transcript.However, a communications staffer for Mr. Johnson, Kerry Rom, asked why CBS News aired “just 9 minutes of the nearly 15 minute interview.”Ms. Brennan has also been under fire for her handling of the vice presidential debate between Senator Vance and Governor Walz this month. During the debate, Ms. Brennan interrupted Mr. Vance to “fact-check” his claim about migrants overwhelming Springfield, Ohio, despite CBS News stating prior to the debate that there would be no fact-checking by the moderators. Ms. Brennan did not fact-check Tim Waz, nor did her co-moderator, Norah O’Donnell.Mr. Vance reacted to CBS News’s editing of Mr. Johnson’s interview and wrote on X, “This is extraordinarily dishonest from CBS. Between this and 60 Minutes, they selectively edited a Kamala clip to make her look better and a Mike Johnson clip to take out his full answer.”Congressman Richard Hudson asked on X, “[CBS News], what made you edit [Mr. Johnson’s] interview and cut out his mention of [House Republicans’] actions to protect the integrity of the elections?”CBS News has been denounced by President Trump for its editing of the ’60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris interview. CBS NewsWhile it is not uncommon for networks to edit interviews due to time constraints, CBS News has been under heavy scrutiny after a daily drip of details about its news standards showed an anti-Israel bias, such as preventing reporters from calling Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and its edits of a pre-taped interview Vice President Harris did with “60 Minutes.” CBS News has been accused of selectively editing Ms. Harris’ answers to remove so-called “word salad” and make her sound more coherent than she does in live interviews, when she sometimes meanders without discernible meaning, mixing her words and phrases at random, as one might prepare a garden salad.During the now notorious “60 Minutes” interview, Ms. Harris was asked why Prime Minister Netanyahu does not seem to be heeding the warnings or wishes of American officials.In a preview excerpt broadcast by “Face the Nation” on the Sunday prior to the Monday “60 Minutes” broadcast, Ms. Harris responded, “The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”However, in the version of the interview that aired on Monday night, she answered the same question more coherently, saying, “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”CBS News chief Wendy McMahon (L) received a strong vote of support from her boss, CBS chief George Cheeks, after she came under criticism for her deputy’s reprimand of CBS Mornings’ co-host Tony Dokoupil, for how he challenged Ta-Nehisi Coates over his virulent anti-Israel views. Getty ImagesA third edit also surfaced, posted by “Face the Nation” on the social media platform formally known as Twitter, which included yet another answer from Ms. Harris, that never aired on CBS TV. In the third version, the vice president spoke about America’s efforts to help Israel defend itself from attacks from Iran. She said it is America’s “imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those types of attacks.”Ms. Harris vowed that America would continue to pressure Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. After the exposition that CBS News broadcast three video sequences in which Ms. Harris gave three different answers to the same question, President Trump said “60 Minutes” had perpetrated the “Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History.” He said the network should lose its broadcast license (an archaic convention in which the government gives broadcast networks such as CBS, ABC, and NBC permission to broadcast over the free airwaves). Americans appear to be curious about how those editing decisions were made. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 85 percent of respondents think CBS News should release the full transcript of Ms. Harris’ interview. So far, the network has refused to do so.

More Trouble for CBS News as House Speaker Denounces Network for ‘Selectively Editing’ Interview, Removing Criticism of Biden’s Hurricane Response

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