CBS denied allegations that they “deceptively edited” a long-winded answer from Kamala Harris during a 60 Minutes interview, but admitted that they aired a “succinct” part of her answer.
The controversy began when the vice president attended an interview on the flagship program last Monday and was asked about the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Her lengthy response, full of long pauses and hesitant phrasing, played during a 60 Minutes preview that aired last Sunday on CBS Face the Nation.
However, when the entire interview aired on 60 Minutes the next night, Harris seemed to give a more succinct answer.
CBS has confirmed it has edited a long-winded answer Kamala Harris gave in her 60 Minutes interview, but walked back the claim that it was ‘deceptive’
Donald Trump’s campaign noticed the difference and the former president angrily accused the TV network of “fraud” by editing its “terrible, incompetent answer.”
CBS declined to comment all week, but broke its silence after Trump called for the channel to be taken off the air in a lengthy rant on Thursday.
“Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceptively editing our October 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is incorrect,” CBS said.
CBS explained that the interview had to be shortened to fit into a 21-minute program, and that it was standard procedure to shorten long answers to cover more topics.
“60 Minutes provided an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer portion of her response than the one on 60 Minutes,” it said.
‘Same question. Same answer. But another part of the response. When we edit an interview, whether it’s with a politician, an athlete or a movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and current.
“The 60 Minutes portion of her response was more concise, allowing time for other topics in a broad 21-minute segment.”
Donald Trump’s campaign noticed the difference, and the former president angrily accused the TV network of “fraud” by editing its “terrible, incompetent answer.”
Harris sat for an interview on the flagship program broadcast last Monday and was asked about the Israeli invasion of Gaza
CBS criticized Trump in its statement, noting that he “withdrew from his interview with ’60 Minutes’ and the vice president participated.”
“Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open,” the report said
“If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would love to have him on 60 Minutes.”
Trump’s campaign previously denied that it had ever formally accepted the invitation for an interview.
The interview was broadcast to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas terrorists raiding Israel and carrying out the largest single-day massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Host Bill Whitaker asked Harris whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listened to the US, and whether the administration had any influence over his decision-making during the attack on Gaza.
“Well Bill, the work that we’ve done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much motivated by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to be done in the region,” Harris responded .
The 60-minute version was noticeably shorter and missed many of its breaks.
“We will not stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to make clear where we stand on the need for this war to end,” she said.
Thousands are dead and Gaza remains in shambles as the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist reached the one-year mark on Monday, October 7.
Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, demanded that CBS release the full, unedited interview — which it has yet to do.
“Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s entire word salad, and what else did they not air?” she said.
“The American people deserve the complete, unedited transcript of Kamala’s sit-down interview. We’re calling on 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do she and Kamala have to hide?’
Harris’ media strategy has largely remained free of sit-down interviews with television networks and has leaned more toward non-traditional avenues — such as speaking to raunchy, sex-oriented podcast host Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy.
The 60 Minutes interview was one of her few extended sit-downs with a legacy television network.
