Tipsheet

Given Its History, Did CBS News Really Say This to Trump During 60 Minutes Interview?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 22, 2020 11:45 PM

When it was first reported, I wouldn’t have been shocked it was a lie. CNN was first to say that President Donald Trump walked out of an interview with CBS News’ Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes. CNN reported it. That’s a huge red flag given that they’re one of the most vocal anti-Trump networks out there. Second, it was sort of a lie. Walking out of an interview after nearly 40 minutes of speaking to Stahl isn’t necessarily walking out, right? When I think of walking out, I think of Robert Downey Jr. just leaving during an interview with the British press while promoting The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Also, it sounds like the interview with Stahl was pretty much done, as Vice President Mike Pence was due up next.  I mean, the president already posted it before CBS News could stick their knives into the administration (via The Hill):


President Trump on Thursday teased the release of an unedited version of his interview with "60 Minutes" as his attacks on the widely watched news program dragged into a third day.

The president has been fixated on the interview with veteran journalist Lesley Stahl, which ended abruptly after Trump grew frustrated with the questioning.

"I will soon be giving a first in television history full, unedited preview of the vicious attempted 'takeout' interview of me by Lesley Stahl of @60Minutes," Trump tweeted Thursday. "Watch her constant interruptions & anger. Compare my full, flowing and 'magnificently brilliant' answers to their 'Q’s'."

CBS News is not happy about it:

"The White House's unprecedented decision to disregard their agreement with CBS News and release their footage will not deter 60 MINUTES from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades. 60 MINUTES, the most-watched news program on television, is widely respected for bringing its hallmark fairness, deep reporting and informative context to viewers each week.  Few journalists have the presidential interview experience Lesley Stahl has delivered over her decades as one of the premier correspondents in America and we look forward to audiences seeing her third interview with President Trump and subsequent interview with Vice President Pence this weekend."

Yes, there may be times where Trump could have acted better, but whatever. Even others have noted the strong reaction from CBS News to the early release says more about them than it does about Trump. 

I won’t lie, folks. Stahl was never on the public enemies list regarding liberal media types. Her interview with the late Justice Antonin Scalia was great, but this is just embarrassing. First, Trump says that the Obama administration spied on his campaign.

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“This is 60 Minutes, and we can't put on things that we can't verify,” Stahl said.

Well, The Washington Examiner’s Byron York shredded the unverified claim pivot tweeting, “What Stahl does not mention: Carter Page, George Papadoupoulos, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, 'Azra Turk,' Stefan Halper, the 8/30/2016 FBI briefing, the 1/6/17 ICA briefing, and more. Taken all together, by any reasonable definition, that's spying.” She would know if CBS News reported…the news. Even James Clapper, Obama’s former spy czar, said what the FBI did to the Trump campaign was the textbook definition of spying. 

Second, she said that the Hunter Biden laptop hasn't been verified. Have people lost the number to the FBI at CBS? It's verified. The entire IC said so, including people in the email chains itself. 

Also, who is she kidding? It’s as if CBS thinks that after a certain period of time, their slate regarding screw-ups is wiped clean. Nope. We all remember when 60 Minutes ran with an unverified story about George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service based on the fraudulent Killian Documents. People were fired. The story was exposed as a fake. It was a fake news story dropped by CBS in an effort to influence the 2004 election. We have the receipts, you pratz. Your time is up.