White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened CBS News that President Donald Trump would sue the network if it cut his recent interview, according to a report.
In the moments after Trump finished taping a 13-minute interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil in Michigan on Tuesday, Leavitt issued a warning to him.
“He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt said in reference to the president, according to audio of the exchange obtained by The New York Times.
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Dokoupil replied.
“He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off,” Leavitt added.
Several CBS News employees who witnessed Leavitt make the comments thought she was joking, one source told the Times.
Audio of the interaction revealed the group of employees sounding surprised by Leavitt’s comments. Kim Harvey, CBS Evening News executive producer, reportedly replied: “Oh, great, OK!”
Dokoupil seemed to try to lighten the mood, saying:“He always says that!” according to the report.
Leavitt did not laugh in response, according to the report.
CBS News told The Independent that it had already planned to air the interview in full. “The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” a network spokesperson said.
Leavitt confirmed the Times report. “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full,” she said.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump previously sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the network of deceptive editing in an “attempt to tip the scales” in favor of the Democratic nominee.
Paramount, CBS News’ corporate parent at the time of the lawsuit, agreed to a $16 million settlement, drawing sharp criticism from both in and outside of the newsroom. Soon after the settlement, Trump approved a deal for Paramount to be sold to Skydance, led by CEO David Ellison.
Ellison later hired opinion journalist Bari Weiss, who founded the neoconservative site The Free Press, to lead the newsroom as editor-in-chief, alarming many of the network’s journalists due to her lack of broadcast news experience.
Weiss’s editorial judgment has been called into question, as critics wonder if she is trying to make CBS’s news division more Trump-friendly, a claim she has rejected.
Weiss recently courted controversy for pushing a story about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross’ alleged injuries following the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minnesota, despite “concern” from journalists.
CBS News was the first to report last Wednesday that Trump officials said Ross suffered internal bleeding in his torso, citing two unnamed sources.
The report about his injuries sparked “internal skepticism at the network” according to internal emails obtained by The Guardian. However, Weiss “expressed a high level of interest in the story,” and the publication went forward with the story.
Trump hailed Weiss as the “great new leader” when he appeared on 60 Minutes last year. Weiss was on location for the interview and approached Trump afterward to introduce herself, sources told The Independent.
“He was so happy to see her and she was so excited to meet him, they both leaned in and exchanged kisses on the cheek,” one source said.
