CBS News addressed allegations â60 Minutesâ edited a story it aired with Vice President Kamala Harris where it was accused of âdeceitful editingâ by former President Donald Trump, among others.
CBS News published a statement Sunday regarding the broadcast of two different answers to the same question in an interview earlier this month, Fox News reported.
âFormer President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false,â per the statement.
ââ60 Minutesâ gave an excerpt of our interview to âFace the Nationâ that used a longer section of her answer than that on â60 Minutes.â Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response,â the statement read. âWhen we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on â60 Minutesâ was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide-ranging 21-minute-long segment.â
The statement also pointed out that Trump âpulled out of his interview with â60 Minutesâ and the vice president participated.â
The Trump campaign has said it never formally accepted the invitation to be interviewed on â60 Minutes.â
âOur long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open,â the statement read. âIf he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on â60 Minutes.ââ
CBS News has not released the unedited video or full transcript of the interview.
The Trump campaign said CBS should still release the transcript.
ââ60 Minutesâ just admitted to doing exactly what President Trump accused them of doing. They edited in a different response â from another part of her answer â to make Kamala Harris sound less incoherent than she really was. Their statement is not a denial, it is an admission that they did exactly what they were accused of,â the campaign said. âThis is another reminder of how hopelessly biased â60 Minutesâ is, and how correct President Trump was to decline their invitation to be subjected to their fake news hackery. Release the Transcript!â
Trump talked with Fox Newsâ Howard Kurtz about the situation.
âIâve never seen anything like it. She gave a horrible, incompetent answer on a news program⌠and so she gives an answer that shows that sheâs dumb or incompetent or somethingâs wrong with her,â Trump said Sunday before CBS released its statement. âItâs so bad that the people at CBS say weâre going to do a little editing⌠They take the whole ridiculous answer out, and it was a long answer and replace it with a much shorter answer that you had to do with a totally different subject, which also didnât make sense, but it wasnât as incompetent.â
CBS News has been under fire since airing the two different answers.
Harris herself has been criticized for offering a âword saladâ that was aired by CBSâ âFace the Nationâ to promote her interview with Bill Whitaker when he asked why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasnât listening to the U.S.
Harrisâ âword saladâ did not make the â60 Minutesâ interview, but a shorter version did.
The Center for American Rights, also known as CAR, said the discrepancies âamount to deliberate news distortion â a violation of FCC rules governing broadcastersâ public interest obligations,â and filed a complaint with the FCC.
Trump said CBS should lose its broadcasting license.
âA giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes.
âHer 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,â he wrote on Truth Social. âTAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE.â
He continued his disdain in a recent speech.
âElection Interference. She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact. An UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! The Dems got them to do this and should be forced to concede the Election? WOW!â
Trump said in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
âThe other big news is the fraud committed by â60 Minutesâ and CBS together with the Democrat Party, working together with them, which will go down as the single biggest scandal in broadcast history, I predict,â Trump said.
Many viewers posted on X, formerly Twitter, against the news program.
https://twitter.com/HoneyBadgerKate/status/1848386838685249838
