Former president Donald Trump is accusing CBS News of “election interference” after the network edited 2024 rival Kamala Harris’s meandering answer to a question about Israel during a recent 60 Minutes interview.
When CBS aired the full version of the interview on Monday, Trump called out the network. He accused 60 Minutes of either cutting out portions of the vice president’s long-winded response, or even splicing in another answer that she had given elsewhere in the interview.
“A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes. Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal. TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference,” Trump posted Tuesday morning on Truth Social.
Trump made similar comments in follow-up Truth Social posts accusing CBS and Democrats of committing the biggest scandal in the history of broadcast media.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign echoed his comments in a statement to the New York Post calling for CBS to release the full interview transcript.
“During the full interview on Monday evening, the word salad was deceptively edited to lessen Kamala’s idiotic response. Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s full word salad, and what else did they choose not to air?” said Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview. We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?”
Harris sat down with CBS’s flagship program, 60 Minutes, for an interview that aired Monday night. In a preview clip, aired on Face the Nation, Harris gave a confusing answer to interviewer Bill Whitaker’s question about why Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu does not appear to be listening to U.S. officials.
“Well, Bill, 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,” Harris answered.
When CBS aired the full interview Monday night, Harris appeared to give a different, and more concise, answer to the same question, prompting outcry from critics who believe the network edited the interview to make Harris look better.
“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,” Harris replied in the 60 Minutes version of the interview.
Both versions of Harris’s answer are posted on CBS’s YouTube channel and X users have shared the clips spliced together to reflect the contrast between them. National Review has reached out to CBS News for comment.
Former CBS reporter Catherine Herridge, a veteran investigative journalist the network fired after she reported critically on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, noted that CBS released the full transcript of her interview with Trump four years ago.
“There is precedent,” Herridge said on X. “When I interviewed then President Trump in July 2020. @CBSNews we posted the interview transcript. This is more complete and NOT the same as a transcript of the edited TV report.”
“Full transcript = journalistic transparency,” Herridge said in a follow up post.
In a statement to Fox News, the Harris campaign distanced itself from CBS’s apparent decision to cut out portions of — or replace — her answer about Netanyahu.
“We do not control CBS’s production decisions and refer questions to CBS,” a Harris campaign official said.
The vice president’s CBS interview is one stop on her friendly media tour with only weeks to go until Election Day. She also recently appeared on programs such as raunchy feminist podcast Call Her Daddy and prominent radio host Howard Stern’s afternoon show.
Internally, CBS is grappling with the fallout from CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil’s interview with progressive writer and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new anti-Israel polemic. Dokoupil’s tough questions to Coates prompted a meltdown among anti-Israel staffers, and the network quickly bent to their demands, publicly rebuking their anchor in the process.
During the all-hands meeting that ensued, Dokoupil was reportedly brought to tears and staffers debated whether Israel deserves to exist.