White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt approached “CBS News Evening” News anchor Tony Dokoupil after his interview with President Donald Trump Wednesday with an apparent threat.
“We’ll sue your ass off” if the interview does not air in its entirety, she said, per The New York Times Saturday.
Dokoupil had just finished a 13-minute interview with the president at the Ford Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
Some on hand were not sure if Leavitt was serious about her threat, Mediaite reported.
The NYT reported the exchange.
“[Trump] said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’ Ms. Leavitt said in an even tone, according to a recording of the exchange obtained by “The New York Times.”
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Mr. Dokoupil responded.
Ms. Leavitt replied: “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”
“Some of the CBS personnel who were there absorbed Ms. Leavitt’s remarks as being in jest, according to a person familiar with their thinking,” per the report.
However, Leavitt’s comment rings true since Trump sued “CBS News” in 2024 over it editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Paramount settled the suit for $16 million.
“CBS News” ran Dokoupil’s entire 13-minute interview. It added the network planned to do so from the interview’s inception.
“The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” a statement read.
New CBS News head Bari Weiss hand-picked Dokoupil to lead the news.
When she was hired, Trump called Weiss CBS News’ “great new leader.”
First Amendment advocates criticized her hiring because the feared Weiss’ politics would interfere with the journalistic standards at CBS News.
“Several missteps have since been recorded, including Dokoupil’s promotional video trashing legacy media and pointing to the direction the network was heading,” per Mediaite.
“On too many stories the press missed the story,” Dokoupil said shortly before his debut, “because we’ve taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you.”
Dokoupil ended by declaring, “We respect you” and “We love America.”
After one broadcast, Dokoupil said, “Marco Rubio, we salute you.”
