Scott Pelley says David Ellison is sidelining '60 Minutes' to please Trump: 'Waste is heartbreaking'

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Veteran journalist Scott Pelley has accused Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison of casting aside the legacy of '60 Minutes' in an apparent effort to gain favor with President Donald Trump.

The longtime CBS News correspondent made the explosive allegation in a lengthy statement released Tuesday, June 2, after he departed from the iconic news program.

Pelley claimed the show's values had been undermined under new leadership and suggested political considerations were driving major changes behind the scenes.

Scott Pelley says David Ellison is abandoning a television institution

In his farewell statement, Pelley praised the decades-long success of '60 Minutes' before turning his attention to the network's new ownership.

"There has never been anything in America like '60 Minutes,'" Pelley wrote, calling it the most successful program of its kind in television history.

But he argued that the show's future is now under threat.

"Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration," Pelley wrote. "The waste is heartbreaking."

The former correspondent said the program remained successful with viewers and continued to grow its audience, making the recent changes even harder for him to accept.

Scott Pelley criticizes management changes at ‘60 Minutes’

Pelley also took issue with recent staffing decisions at the network.

According to his statement, "'60 Minutes' lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause."

He specifically defended colleagues who, he said, had fought to preserve the standards that made the program successful.

"Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience," he wrote. "They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos."

Pelley's comments came after a reported clash with Executive Producer Nick Bilton earlier in the week.

Scott Pelley alleges pressure to include unverified claims in reporting

Among the most serious allegations in his statement were claims that new management attempted to influence editorial decisions.

"For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story," Pelley wrote.

He further claimed he was asked to include assertions that had not been verified. 

"To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them," he said.

Pelley also alleged that politicians had been given influence over interview selections, writing, "Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast."

He argued that such practices went against the long-standing standards of the program.

Scott Pelley says ‘the collapse of values’ forced his departure

Despite his criticism, Pelley ended his statement by expressing gratitude for the journalists he worked alongside during his 37 years at CBS.

However, he made clear that he believed the culture at the top had fundamentally changed.

"At '60 Minutes,' we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon," he wrote. But ultimately, he concluded that staying was no longer possible.

"The leadership of '60 Minutes' is no longer recognizable," Pelley said. "The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."

Representatives for CBS News and Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Bilton defended his actions in a memo to staff, saying he had made repeated efforts to speak with Pelley and find common ground, but "that was not the path Scott chose."