CBS News issued a statement on Sunday night responding to accusations that the network deceptively edited Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on “60 Minutes,” acknowledging the edits but denying any intent to make Harris’ answers sound more coherent. After the interview aired on October 7, former President Donald Trump demanded a full transcript of Harris’ remarks and has repeatedly claimed that CBS is engaging in election interference.
“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 network wrote in its statement. “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 statement continued. “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.”
During Harris’ sit-down with “60 Minutes,” host Bill Whitaker asked the vice president about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reluctance to listen to the American government’s guidance on Middle Eastern conflict.
“But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening,” Whitaker said to Harris.
In the promotional clip posted the day before the interview aired, Harris replied:
“The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”
However, this statement did not appear anywhere in the interview the following night. Instead, the televised version recorded Harris as saying:
“We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
Harris’ original remarks are not included in the official transcript, nor are they found in the show’s “Overtime” segment. Trump and his campaign demanded that the network put out everything the vice president said during the interview, saying that “the American people deserve the full, unedited transcript.”
Two weeks after the episode aired, CBS has yet to publish the transcript.
In its statement, the network also took a shot at Trump with a reminder that “Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated.”
As Valuetainment previously reported, Trump pulled out of a scheduled “60 Minutes” appearance late last month, criticizing CBS for its instance on live fact-checking and its coverup of the Hunter Biden laptop story during the 2020 election. At the time, Trump said that the network owes him an apology for downplaying the story as “Russian misinformation.”
“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open,” CBS concluded. “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.”
Responding to the latest statement, the Trump campaign stated:
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. 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!
Former CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge, who was terminated by the network earlier this year while reporting on the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop, argued that there is precedent for releasing full transcripts, citing past interviews with Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
This statement is an indicator @CBSNews hasn’t contained the fallout from its Kamala Harris @60Minutes edit.
Releasing the full unedited transcript is consistent with journalistic transparency and it stands behind the integrity of the entire Kamala Harris edit, not just the… pic.twitter.com/7HoBtTxQ33
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) October 21, 2024
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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