Trump calls for termination of CBS News for editing Kamala Harris' replies in '60 Minutes' interview

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump called for the CBS News program ‘60 Minutes’ to be “immediately terminated” and its network completely shut down on Thursday, February 6, for editing out Kamala Harris’ interview last year.

However, the transcripts released by CBS on Wednesday, February 5 discredited his claim, showing the network’s flagship newsmagazine made routine edits to the Harris interview for time and clarity, according to Daily Beast.

The network pointed this out in a statement on Wednesday, saying the transcript and video “show – consistent with 60 Minutes’ repeated assurances to the public – that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful.”

Donald Trump calls for '60 Minutes' to be 'terminated'

Trump posted on Truth Social, “CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before. They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election changing answers to questions, and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview.”

He continued, “This was Election changing “stuff,” Election Interference and, quite simply, Election Fraud at a level never seen before. CBS should lose its license, and the cheaters at 60 Minutes should all be thrown out, and this disreputable “NEWS” show should be immediately terminated.”

The president added, “With the new Democrat scandal that just arose with respect to USAID illegally paying large sums of money to Politico and other media outlets, the question must be asked, was CBS paid for committing this FRAUD??? Many other questions to come! This will go down as the biggest Broadcasting SCANDAL in History!!!”

Notably, Donald Trump has reportedly filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the network.

The controversy took place after CBS aired different parts of Harris’ answer to a question on different broadcasts in October 2024. This led to conservative conspiracies that CBS News was editing coverage to help Democrats, per the outlet.

CBS News unedited Kamala Harris interview

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reportedly released the full transcript of the controversial Kamala Harris interview. As per the transcript, Harris gave a 179-word answer on Israel that ‘60 Minutes’ reportedly cut to just 20 words, according to the New York Post.

A CBS source informed the outlet that the edit did Harris “a lot of favors and makes her seem more succinct.”

The insider said, “You have to watch the video. A lot of ‘word salad’. Feels like a cleanup on Aisle 7. Not a technical foul but one could argue still news distortion.”

According to the New York Post, to a question from correspondent Bill Whitaker about what the US could do to stop the war from spinning out of control, Harris gave a 140-word answer, per the full transcript.

However, the broadcast version showed a succinct, 56-word reply.

Similarly, a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also heavily edited as the Harris reply was chopped down to just 20 words, whereas the transcript showed it to be 179 words.

Internet slams CBS News as Trump calls for their shutdown

Many internet users slammed CBS News as Donald Trump called for the CBS News program ‘60 Minutes’ to be “immediately terminated” and its network completely shut down.

A user wrote on X, “Media has become an extension of the liberal government and should have their licenses pulled so that a new and more balanced generation of journalists can serve the nation with integrity once again” while one added, “It's certainly a serious allegation that raises important questions about media integrity and transparency.”

A person also stated, “The Kamala Harris 60 minutes interview might go down as one of the most shameful examples of media based election interference in modern history,” whereas one mentioned, “If @POTUS reinstated the Smith-Mundt Act the propaganda will be illegal again. Do it!!!”

A user also wrote, “I saw the unedited video..oh my gosh it's disgusting to know how @CBSNews lied to the people worldwide..most dishonest! Most untrustworthy!!” while one commented, “@FCC take the license away from @CBSNews and take the fraudulent @60Minutes off air! FRAUDS.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.