Donald Trump insists CBS News should lose its license and be kicked off the air after it favorably edited 60 Minutes’ interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The former president is furious that the network posted on YouTube a version of an interview with Harris that removed her “word salad” response about the war between Israel and Hamas, which was widely criticized on social media when the episode originally aired on television on Monday. .
Trump’s son Eric also weighed in on the edited clip, writing on X: ‘How is this legal? “The mainstream media in this country is seriously corrupt and bankrupt.”
Thursday is not the first time Trump has demanded that a news network be taken off the air.
After the September 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, the former president asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke ABC News’ license over its moderation style, which included fact-checking it in real time.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel insisted her agency would not revoke licenses over political candidates’ disagreements with the station and said Trump’s latest attack is a “threat to free speech” that “should not be ignored.”
Donald Trump demanded that CBS News have its license revoked and be taken off the air after the network published an edited version of the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
“As I have said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy,” the president said in a statement Thursday. “The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or does not like the content or coverage.”
The FCC is a federal agency that licenses individual broadcast stations and renews them every eight years.
When reviewing licenses, the FCC determines whether renewal is in the public interest.
Courts have consistently held that the First Amendment prohibits the FCC from withdrawing a channel’s license based on its editorial decisions.
“A giant fake news scam by CBS and 60 Minutes,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. ‘Her ACTUAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED IT with another answer to save her or at least make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal.
“REMOVE THE LICENSE FROM CBS,” he demanded in capital letters, adding: “Election interference.”
The rant continued: ‘She’s an asshole and the fake news media wants to hide that fact. AN UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! Were Democrats forced them to do this and should they be forced to concede the election? WOW!’
Trump’s campaign demanded that CBS release the full, unredacted transcript of his 60 Minutes interview.
“If 60 Minutes had an ounce of integrity, they would publish the entire, unedited interview,” Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, wrote in X.
‘The person who can’t answer basic questions about national security wants to be our next president. Show us what he really said, in full.
He accused the network of trying to make his Democratic competitor look “more presidential” and said its action favorably editing the 2024 candidate is a “campaign finance violation.”
The 60 Minutes interview was part of Harris’ media blitz before it aired on Election Day Monday night, and the network put the episode on the show’s official YouTube page.
But X users were quick to point out that at least one question was edited to alter their answer in the YouTube version.
Trump said CBS News owes the public an apology.
CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global, did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com about the decision-making behind the edited clip.
CBS News is facing immense backlash after the network edited a “word salad” response from Harris in her 60 Minutes interview to supposedly portray her in a more positive light.
Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a statement Tuesday night: “Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s entire word salad, and what else did they choose not to air?”
‘The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript of Kamala’s interview. We call on 60 Minutes and CBS to publish it. What do they and Kamala have to hide? he added.
He called Harris’ response to 60 Minutes host Bill Whitaker “idiotic.”
Host Bill Whitaker asked Harris whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listening to the United States and whether the administration had any influence over the Jewish state’s decision-making in its conflict with Hamas terrorists operating from Gaza.
“Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a series of moves in that region by Israel that were driven or resulted from many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” Harris responded. .
His response was filled with long pauses and hesitant words.
Social media erupted with conservatives who were unhappy with the lack of response and voiced their criticism of the vice president’s ‘word salad’ about X.
A user asked someone to “interpret” his response.
But after the episode aired on 60 Minutes on Monday night, the YouTube version of the show did not include Harris’ nonsensical response and instead included a more truncated, direct and confident response.
“We are not going to stop doing what is necessary to make the United States clear where we stand on the need to end this war,” Harris says in the edited response to Whitaker.
Pro-MAGA accounts and conservative X people were quick to point out the change.
“I’ve never seen this before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, “but 60 Minutes producers cut and cut (‘cut and pasted’) Lyin’ Kamala’s answers to questions, which were virtually incoherent… to make her look ‘more presidential,’ or at least, better.’
“It can also be a serious campaign finance violation,” he said.
“This is a stain on 60 Minutes’ reputation that cannot be recovered; it will always remain on this once-historic brand.” I had never heard of anything like that being done in ‘News’. It’s the very definition of FAKE NEWS! The public is owed a MAJOR AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY! This is an open and shut case and must be investigated starting today!’
The interview aired on Monday, the same day that marked one year since the start of the conflict in the Middle East after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and carried out the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
In the wake of the backlash over his response to 60 Minutes, it appears CBS News decided to edit the vice president’s response.
Harris’ media strategy has largely stayed away from network interviews and leaned more toward non-traditional avenues, such as speaking with the host of the raunchy, sex-focused Call Her Daddy podcast, Alex Cooper .
The 60 Minutes interview was one of his few lengthy meetings with a traditional television network.