Former President Donald Trump railed against 60 Minutes for editing its episode with his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The program has had a tradition of interviewing candidates from both the Republican and Democratic tickets since 1968. This cycle, only Harris sat down with the network as Trump’s team rejected an offer for a sit-down interview. Trump and Harris have already debated for the final time this election cycle.
Ahead of the interview’s airing, CBS promoted the episode with a clip of Harris giving a lengthy response to a question about Israel. However, during the televised interview, the answer was whittled down. Trump appeared on the Full Send podcast, which went live on Monday, to air his grievances against the network.
“60 Minutes [Harris] gives a horrible answer, and they change the answer. I think it’s the biggest scandal in broadcast history: They actually took her answer out and gave her a different answer after it was shot,” Trump said. “It’s turned out to be a scandal, but I think it’s the worst thing I’ve seen in broadcast. I think it’s the biggest scandal in broadcast history. No. 1, it’s election interference. No. 2, they get a license, and it’s supposed to be a license based on free press, fair press, and honesty.”
An outcry to release the interview’s entire transcript has gained traction online. According to the October Harvard Caps Harris Poll, 85% of respondents across parties agreed that the network should publish the transcript.
However, those same respondents were split about why the network would edit the clip in the first place. Some 53% reported it was to make Harris look better, while another 47% said it was to be fair and objective in their editing.
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While CBS News’s Scott Pelley said that he had plans to sit down with Trump for an interview, Trump’s campaign denied that any appointment was ever settled on. At the time, the campaign also took issue with “jump cuts” that the network could make to Trump’s answers.
While Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) appeared on the television program, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) did not make a similar appearance. Trump announced in July that Vance was his running mate.