'60 Minutes' Says Trump Claim That Kamala Harris Interview Was 'Deceitful' Is 'False'
Ever since the CBS program 60 Minutes aired an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, people have demanded one thing: the full interview.
Or, at the very least, a written transcript of the entire interview.
Why? Many people feel that 60 Minutes edited the interview to make Harris appear as though she performed better during the sit-down than she actually did.
One of those people is former United States President Donald Trump. He called the edited version of the interview a "giant fake news scam," pointing out that 60 Minutes showed Harris answering the same question with two different answers.
Many people have accused CBS program "60 Minutes" of editing an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris to make her look better and one of those people is former President Donald Trump.
(Alex Wong/Getty Images)
60 Minutes is now firing back at Trump, releasing a statement on Sunday evening that rebuts the claims of the former president.
"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."
There are a few things to unpack here. First, instead of releasing a lengthy denial, CBS and 60 Minutes could simply release the entire interview or the transcript.
It's 2024. It's not like CBS has to air the interview on network television. Put it on YouTube. It would probably get 10 million views. It should be easy and generate additional viewership for the interview.
The only reason they wouldn't do that is if they don't want people to see the entire interview. That's what makes people suspicious.
The 60 Minutes statement goes from a defense of itself to an attack on Donald Trump.
The 60 Minutes statement didn't stop at just referring to the Harris interview, though. It quickly turned the spotlight back on Trump.
"Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated, the statement continued.
"Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump 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."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump accused CBS and "60 Minutes" of deceitfully editing an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
(Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Of course, Donald Trump doesn't want to appear on 60 Minutes. It looks like it edited an interview to make his opponent look better.
That's a pretty clear signal about who it wants to win the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. So, what would it do with a Trump interview?
The natural assumption is that 60 Minutes would edit it to make him look as bad as possible. It might not do that, but it's not a big leap to think that it would.
Let me put it this way: do you trust that 60 Minutes would give Trump a perfectly fair interview and air an accurate version of it?
The sad part is that 20 years ago, no one would have thought that 60 Minutes would try to influence a presidential election. Now, that's no longer the case.
What happened to the American media?