“60 Minutes” journalist and author Scott Pelley raged against President Donald Trump during his commencement speech at West Forest University on May 20.
Pelley claimed that rule of law, universities and journalists are “under attack” during the current presidency and that people no longer have the freedom to express their thoughts. His remarks came as “60 Minutes” and CBS News are in the midst of a legal battle with Trump, who is suing the network and program for allegedly editing an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to politically benefit her.
“But in this moment, this moment, this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack,” Pelley said. “Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack and insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak, in America? Power can rewrite history with grotesque, false narratives. They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality.”
Pelley claimed that the Trump administration has forcibly changed the terms, “diversity” and “equity” to have different meanings in order to fit their own agenda.
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“This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this,” Pelley added.
Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS News in October 2024 after the network appeared to manipulate the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris. The lawsuit, which increased to $20 billion in February, alleged that CBS News participated in “deliberate deception” by omitting parts of Harris’ answer on former President Joe Biden’s stance on Israel in order to help her in the 2024 election.
The lawsuit prompted Bill Owens, the now-former executive producer of “60 Minutes,” to resign from his position in April, stating that he had lost journalistic independence. In response to Owens’ resignation, Pelley accused CBS News and its parent company, Paramount, of “meddling” with staffers’ independence at ’60 Minutes’ by supervising their content ‘in new ways.’”
More recently, Wendy McMahon stepped down from her role as president and CEO of CBS News and Stations, telling her staff in a May 19 memo that the network faced a “challenging time.”
Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, said she is in favor of settling the lawsuit with Trump by seeking his agreement to sell her company to Skydance, a Hollywood studio, according to The New York Times.
Trump accused “60 Minutes” in a Truth Social post of reporting about him in a “derogatory and defamatory way” during their coverage of two stories on him in April. He called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke CBS News’ license and “impose the maximum fines and punishment” for allegedly attempting to help Harris win the 2024 election.
“I am so honored to be suing 60 Minutes, CBS Fake News, and Paramount, over their fraudulent, beyond recognition, reporting,” Trump said in an April 14 post. “They did everything possible to illegally elect Kamala, including completely and corruptly changing major answers to Interview questions, but it just didn’t work for them. They are not a ‘News Show,’ but a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as ‘News,’ and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing.”
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