CBS News pushed back against former President Trump’s claim that “60 Minutes” deceitfully edited its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, dismissing the allegation as “false” in a statement released Sunday.
After weeks of staying mum despite mounting backlash over the interview, CBS published a statement Sunday evening addressing the outrage that ensued after airing two different answers to the same question in the “60 Minutes” interview earlier this month with the Democratic nominee.
“Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false,” the statement began.
“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. 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.”
The statement then reminds readers that former President Trump “pulled out of his interview with ‘60 Minutes’ and the vice president participated.” The Trump campaign denied that it had ever formally accepted the invitation for the interview.
“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open,” the statement continues. “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.”
CBS News has yet to release an unedited video or full transcript of the interview.
The Trump campaign responded to CBS News’ statement, continuing its call on the network to release the transcript.
“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. Their statement is not a denial, it is an admission that they did exactly what they were accused of,” the Trump campaign said. “This is another reminder of how hopelessly biased 60 Minutes is, and how correct President Trump was to decline their invitation to be subjected to their fake news hackery. Release the Transcript!”
The statement comes hours after Trump called for the interview to be taken off-air during a scathing sit-down interview with Fox News’ Howard Kurtz.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. She gave a horrible, incompetent answer on a news program… and so she gives an answer that shows that she’s dumb or incompetent or something’s wrong with her,” Trump said earlier Sunday. “It’s so bad that the people at CBS say we’re going to do a little editing… They take the whole ridiculous answer out, and it was a long answer and replace it with a much shorter answer that you had to do with a totally different subject, which also didn’t make sense, but it wasn’t as incompetent.”
CBS News has taken heat in recent days for airing two different answers to the same question in its “60 Minutes” interview earlier this month with Harris.
Harris was mocked by conservatives when footage of her offering a lengthy “word salad” was aired by CBS’ “Face the Nation” to promote the “60 Minutes” sit-down, when Bill Whitaker asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the US.
However, the vice president’s lengthy answer didn’t make the version that aired on Monday night on “60 Minutes” and a shorter Harris answer to the same question was shown instead.
The Center for American Rights, also known as CAR, argued that the discrepancies “amount to deliberate news distortion — a violation of FCC rules governing broadcasters’ public interest obligations,” and formally complained to the FCC.
Former President Trump called for CBS to lose its broadcasting license last week, writing on Truth Social, “A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes.
“Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal,” he charged.
“TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE,” he continued. “Election Interference. She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact. An UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! The Dems got them to do this and should be forced to concede the Election? WOW!”
Trump further slammed the liberal network during a speech at the Detroit Economic Club.
“The other big news is the fraud committed by ‘60 Minutes’ and CBS together with the Democrat Party, working together with them, which will go down as the single biggest scandal in broadcast history, I predict,” Trump said.
Fox News’ Brian Flood, Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.