CBS News has finally broken its silence over Donald Trump’s accusation that it used “deceitful editing” to doctor some of Kamala Harris’s answers in her 60 Minutes interview.
“Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris,” the show said in a statement on Sunday. “That is false.”
It continued: “60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer.”
The statement continued: “But a different portion of the response. When 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 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.”
Trump and his allies have hit out at both Harris and the network following her October 7 interview, honing in on two clips of Bill Whitaker probing the vice president on the US’s relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A nearly two-and-a-half minute teaser clip of Harris’s interview had been shown on Face the Nation on October 6, the day before the full interview aired.
Harris’s response was almost a minute long in that clip, but was reduced to a single sentence response in the 60 Minutes broadcast the following day. Whitaker’s question was also shorter than in the October 6 clip, according to fact-checking website Snopes.
The former president – who has been accused of dodging an offer of a sitdown with 60 Minutes – has repeatedly fumed about the interview in Truth Social posts and media appearances in the last couple of weeks.
“In normal times, what happened on 60 Minutes, (deceptively ‘doctoring’ her answers), would be THE END OF ANYONE’S CAMPAIGN!,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
On Friday, the former president told the host of podcast The Dan Bongino Show that “I think I’m going to sue them actually.”
In the immediate aftermath of the fallout, 60 Minutes roasted Trump for pulling out of its own scheduled interview with the former president, before reaffirmed the offer still stands. The Trump campaign denies he officially committed to the interview.
“Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated,” it continued.
“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open. If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on 60 Minutes.”
On Sunday, the former president went further, telling Fox News’s MediaBuzz he would “subpoena their records” and called for the broadcaster’s FCC license to be revoked.
“They take the whole ridiculous answer out, and it was a long answer, and replace it with a much shorter answer having to do with a totally different subject, which also didn’t make sense,” Trump said.
“What we’re doing is we’re going to subpoena their records because we want to see how much else did she do.”
Following the release of CBS’s Sunday statement, a Trump campaign spokesperson claimed that the show had “just admitted to doing exactly what President Trump accused them of doing” and accused it of being “hopelessly biased.”
Trump, meanwhile, has come under fire for pulling out of his own interview with 60 Minutes.
In Sunday’s statement, CBS News extended yet another invite to the former president to appear on the show.
“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open. If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on 60 Minutes,” it said.
The Independent has contacted the Trump and Harris campaigns for comment.
