The broadcaster stated that its ‘long-standing invitation’ for the former president remains open if he wishes to discuss Harris’s interview.
CBS News show “60 Minutes” on Sunday denied former President Donald Trump’s claims that it edited Vice President Kamala Harris’s answers in its interview that aired on Oct. 7.
The broadcaster issued a statement after Trump repeated the allegation in a recent Fox News interview that “60 Minutes” edited Harris’s “incompetent” answers to make her look better to viewers.
“They took the answer out in its entirety and they put a completely different answer in that makes her look like she’s normal,” the former president
told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on Oct. 20.
Allegations began to surface after a teaser clip posted by CBS News show “Face the Nation” displayed an excerpt of the interview in which Harris gave a different answer from the one aired on “60 Minutes.” Harris was asked whether the U.S. government has any influence over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“60 Minutes” said in an Oct. 20
statement that the contrast in Harris’s response was due to “Face the Nation” using “a longer section” of her answer for the teaser clip.
“Same question. Same answer. 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 broadcaster stated. “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.”
“60 Minutes” added that Trump pulled out of his interview while Harris chose to participate. The broadcaster stated that its “long-standing invitation” for the former president 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 stated.
In response, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the editing of the interview showed how “60 Minutes” is “hopelessly biased” and urged it to release the unedited transcript of the interview.
“60 Minutes just admitted to doing exactly what President Trump accused them of doing. They edited in a different response—from another part of her answer—to make Kamala Harris sound less incoherent than she really was,” Leavitt said in an Oct. 20
statement. “Their statement is not a denial, it is an admission that they did exactly what they were accused of.”
The Republican presidential candidate has previously
described CBS as “a giant Fake News Scam” and called for the television network to have its license revoked following Harris’s interview.
Trump
told podcaster Dan Bongino on Oct. 18 that he would consider suing CBS and reiterated his call for “60 Minutes” to release unedited tapes of its interview with the Democratic presidential candidate.
Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman (FCC) Jessica Rosenworcel
dismissed his call as “threats against free speech” and said the FCC will not revoke licenses for TV stations “simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
Earlier this month, CBS announced that Trump had declined to participate in a “60 Minutes” interview despite initially agreeing to the request. Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung later
said there were initial discussions about the interview “but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in.”
