Trump, in New Outburst, Says ‘60 Minutes’ Should Be ‘Taken Off the Air’ Over Changes To Harris Interview

President Trump is accusing CBS News of election interference for its changes to Vice President Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes.” He says the storied program should no longer be on television. During an interview with conservative radio host Dan Bongino, the issue of liberal bias in the media came up. Mr. Bongino said the most infuriating “media moment” for him came from 2020, when “60 Minutes” journalist Leslie Stahl refused to cover a report from the New York Post about Hunter Biden’s laptop because it could not be “verified,” even years though later CBS News would confirm the laptop and its contents belonged to the son of President Biden.Trump said Ms. Stahl “knew” the laptop was real. However, he suggested the “worst scandal” in “broadcast history” was when CBS News was exposed for selectively editing Ms. Harris’ pre-taped interview with “60 Minutes” that aired on October 7. Critics are demanding CBS News release the full, unedited transcript due to speculation that the liberal news organization tailored its edit of the interview to make Ms. Harris sound more coherent and protect her from being seen on television using “word salad.” “They didn’t edit. They took her entire…paragraph…and it was a long, they say, word salad,” Trump said. “It was just words, rambling words, horrible. So they take it out, and they put another statement that she made two pages later, they insert it. And nobody would’ve known the difference, and they got caught.”Kamala Harris sits down with Bill Whitaker for her ’60 Minutes’ interview. CBS NewsHe suggested the incident would not be a “scandal” if the editors simply cut off a portion of her answer, as he said that has happened to him because he likes to speak “in long sentences.” However, the former president said, “They took the whole thing, and they replaced it with a totally unrelated time and place.”Trump told Mr. Bongino he might sue CBS News for the change and that he thinks the network should lose its broadcast license—which lets it broadcast “over the air.” He also said “60 Minutes” should be “taken off the air” for “election interference.”CBS News has been criticized for clumsily releasing three different excerpts of Ms. Harris’ interview. In a preview excerpt of Ms. Harris’ interview that aired on October 6 on “Face the Nation,” the vice president was asked why Prime Minister Netanyahu does not seem to be listening to American officials’ advice and concerns about how Israel carries out its war against Hamas.CBS Mornings’ Tony Dokoupil interviews Ta-Nehisi Coates. CBS NewsShe answered with what critics call a “word salad,” saying, “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 primetime broadcast of “60 Minutes” that aired the next day, when she was asked the same question about Mr. Netanyahu, the “word salad” was gone. Ms. Harris responded to the same Israel 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.”A third edit also surfaced, posted by the “Face the Nation” X handle, which included yet another answer from Ms. Harris, with a portion that did not air on 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.”The exposure of the edits has led to calls for CBS News to release the full transcript of the interview so Americans can see how Ms. Harris actually answered the question. The network’s refusal to do so led to a complaint being filed against it with the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates broadcast television.Speaker Mike Johnson appears on CBS News ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday. CBS NewsThe Center for American Rights alleged in its filing with the FCC that CBS News engaged in “significant and intentional news distortion” by changing Ms. Harris’ interview.The CAR’s complaint acknowledges that this “kind of editing is normal in the context of a news magazine style show” like “60 Minutes.” However, it says, “CBS crosses a line when its production reaches the point of so transforming an interviewee’s answer that it is a fundamentally different answer.”Rather than seeking to censor CBS News or strip it of its broadcast license, CAR’s complaint asks that the FCC force it to release the transcript of its interview with Ms. Harris. Trump has previously called for the network to lose its broadcast license. Yet, the chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, a Biden appointee and former Democratic congressional staffer, then denounced Trump for his “threats against free speech” and said the commission would not act. Margaret Brennan (R) and Norah O’Donnell (L) have been accused of exhibiting liberal bias during the vice presidential debate. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesWhile Ms. Rosenworcel dismissed Trump’s complaint, FCC commissioner Nathan Simington told Fox News Digital he does not think CAR’s complaint is “facially ridiculous.” Mr. Simington, a Trump appointee, also said it would not be “inappropriate for the commission to take it up” as it has a history of acting on news distortion complaints. CBS News has been reeling in recent weeks over multiple incidents in which it’s been accused of liberal bias, overt support of Ms. Harris and hostility to Israel.Speaker Johnson this week accused “Face the Nation” of selectively editing a taped interview with him to promote Democrats and undermine Republicans. Mr. Johnson said CBS removed comments he made about the Biden Administration’s hurricane response and election security. Unlike with the “60 Minutes” interview with Ms. Harris, “Face the Nation” published the entire Johnson transcript online. The “Face the Nation” host who interviewed Mr. Johnson, Margaret Brennan, is also under fire for exhibiting liberal bias while co-hosting the vice presidential debate, during which she “fact checked” Senator Vance although CBS News had said that it would not engage in “fact checking”. Wendy McMahon. CEO of CBS News. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, FileThe whole organization is reeling from the fallout from morning show host Tony Dokoupil’s tense interview with the virulently anti-Israel writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. CBS News inexperienced top brass reprimanded Mr. Dokoupil on the first anniversary of the October 7 attack. The outgoing chairwoman of Paramount, Shari Redstone, then slammed CBS News executives for reprimanding Mr. Dokoupil. Amid the contretemps, internal memos were leaked in which CBS News’ standards executives instructed staff not to refer to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and cautioned staff against referring to Hamas members as terrorists.

Trump, in New Outburst, Says ‘60 Minutes’ Should Be ‘Taken Off the Air’ Over Changes To Harris Interview

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