CBS News finally responds to criticism of its 'deceitful' Harris edit — with an anti-Trump denial



CBS News broke its silence Sunday, addressing President Donald Trump and other critics' concern that its "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited in hopes of portraying the vice president as more coherent than the original footage would otherwise suggest.

Rather than admit the difference between previews of the interview and the final that ultimately aired on Oct. 7 amounted to strategic changes in Harris' favor, CBS News instead suggested it was par for the course and that Trump was in the wrong.

"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 said in a statement, released just one week after Gallup revealed Americans continue to register record-low trust in the media.

Trump previously suggested:

I've never seen this before, but the producers of 60 Minutes sliced and diced ('cut and pasted') Lyin' Kamala's answers to questions, which were virtually incoherent, over and over again, some by as many as four times in a single sentence or thought, all in an effort, possibly illegal as part of the 'News Division,' which must be licensed, to make her look 'more Presidential,' or a least, better. It may also be a major Campaign Finance Violation. This is a stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that is not recoverable — It will always remain with this once storied brand.

CBS News, which has yet to release the undoctored transcript, said further in its Sunday 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," continued the statement. "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."

'The extent of their deceptive edits must be SIGNIFICANT for them to refuse to release the actual transcript.'

Contrary to its suggestion, CBS News appears to have ventured beyond Harris' actual response for a usable answer in an effort to make the vice president come across as "clear, accurate and on point."

Blaze News previously reported that in one preview for the interview, CBS News' Bill Whitaker asked the vice president whether America lacks influence over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his strategic decisions in the Middle East.

After a labyrinthine response from Harris, Whitaker stated, "It seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening."

Harris then responded, "Well, Bill, 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."

The vice president's response was widely mocked as another word salad when previewed by CBS' "Face the Nation" — such that its absence was hard to miss when the final version was released the following day.

The final makes it look as if Harris responded by saying, "We're not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end."

Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in response to CBS News' Sunday statement, "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."

Leavitt noted that "their statement is not a denial, it is an admission that they did exactly what they were accused of."

"Release the transcript!" added Leavitt.

Numerous other critics have demanded the release of the transcript and speculated about the true nature of Harris' responses.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has himself been subjected to deceptive edits on CBS News, wrote, "@60Minutes has now confirmed what we all know: they edited the video. Now release the FULL transcript and video."

"60 Minutes continues to conceal the unedited transcript of its interview with Kamala Harris. Here, they also lie about the controversy surrounding that transcript. The extent of their deceptive edits must be SIGNIFICANT for them to refuse to release the actual transcript," tweeted Federalist editor in chief Mollie Hemingway.

Curtis Houck, managing editor of News Busters, asked, "What are you all hiding?"

'When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself.'

The Center for American Rights has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over its edits to the Harris interview, noting that "CBS crosses a line when its production reaches the point of so transforming an interviewee's answer that it is a fundamentally different answer. This CBS may not do."

Daniel Suhr, President of the Center for American Rights, said in a statement, "This is about the public's trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time. When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media."

CBS News' treatment of Harris prompted a former guest to conclude the network is politically motivated.

"I can testify from our personal experience that @60Minutes is not honest in their journalism," wrote Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich. "They came to our interview with a predetermined narrative & when we pointed to truth they used tactics & editing to tell the story they were determined to tell."

Descovich and fellow Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice spoke to "60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley in October 2023 about their organization and its work reinforcing parental rights and combating grooming efforts in the classroom.

Noticeably absent from the final, released in March, was footage of Descovich and Justice describing the graphic sexual content contained in the books that Democrats wanted to keep in public school libraries — footage that would have damaged CBS News' preferred narrative.

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Moms for Liberty reveals what was missing from '60 Minutes' hit piece



The co-founders of Moms for Liberty, former Florida school board members Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, spoke to "60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley in October 2023 about their organization and its work reinforcing parental rights, protecting children from being subjected to pornography at school, and combating grooming efforts in the classroom.

The interview was ultimately packaged as a hit piece and released Sunday. When it went air, the MFL duo noticed something was missing.

The parental rights group noted that critical details and comments they allegedly shared with Pelley and his producers — insights that may have vindicated their efforts in the court of public opinion — were omitted from the final product.

'60 Minutes' removes obscene books from its special

According to the parental rights group, its co-founders provided "60 Minutes" with an extensive list of books that have been reported at schools, "[n]ot just local libraries or retailers," containing lewd, obscene, or pornographic material.

Among the titles they allegedly brought to the attention of Pelley and his producers was Juno Dawson's "This Book is Gay," which contains the following entry: "Blowies: Oral sex is popping another dude's peen in your mouth or, indeed, popping yours in his. There is only one hard and fast rule when it comes to blow jobs—WATCH THE TEETH. Lips and tongue, yes; teeth, NO."

The parental rights group cited several other damning books they had previously flagged in American schools that "60 Minutes" did not bother to mention, including Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan's "Let's Talk About It," which contains detailed graphics on how to self-stimulate in a section entitled, "Things to Try!"

MFL wrote on X, "Would exposing minor children to these sexual images & texts by someone who is not their parent be grooming? It certainly is not educational. So, why did @60minutes censor this material from tonight's piece?"

Justice wrote, "We read graphic sexual content on camera to @ScottPelley from books found in public school libraries all over the country. Do you think that @60minutes will air that footage? We've got the transcript and a video of the interview."

We read graphic sexual content on camera to @ScottPelley from books found in public school libraries all over the country. \n\nDo you think that @60minutes will air that footage? We\u2019ve got the transcript and a video of the interview. \n\nRight @TinaDescovich?
— (@)

While "60 Minutes" neglected to detail these titles and MFL's specific concerns with them, the program singled out a supposedly "banned" title dealing with anti-Semitism in Tsarist Russia. However, by CBS News' own admission, this title hadn't actually been banned but rather held for review on account of parental concerns over mature subject matter.

Revisionist histories and imagined bans

Critics suggested that the special was misleading from the start. When introducing the topic, Pelley stated, "Moms was founded as a reaction against COVID mandates."

Referencing her transcript of the conversation, Descovich indicated she had made clear to the the "60 Minutes" host that was not the case.

Moms for Liberty, a conservative group, seeks to limit teaching on race, sexual orientation, and gender. 60 Minutes spoke with two of the founders, who also say teacher\u2019s unions have too much influence on education \u201cand that has to change.\u201d https://t.co/0jZpmwGi6V
— (@)

"Moms began as a, let me see. Yeah, [M]oms began as a movement to protest mask restrictions in schools with regard to COVID. And I wonder how you got to books?" said Pelley, according to the transcript shared online by the interviewee.

Descovich apparently responded, "Well, I'd like to say, first of all, we didn't start to protest masks. Mom for Liberty's mission is to unify, educate, and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government."

According to the transcript, Descovich underscored that during the pandemic, she and her co-founder began observing parents "coming to school board meetings, more than they ever had in our terms, and speaking up. But they didn't really know what they were doing. They were getting flustered, they were saying they were gonna report the school board to the County Commission which has no authority in Florida. They didn't understand the process or the polices or how to change a policy or how to be effective."

"And so we formed Moms for Liberty when we came off our terms to help parents in any circumstance be effective in impacting the government when it came to their children," added Descovich.

Extra to apparently providing an alternate history for the group, "60 Minutes" appears to have misrepresented the facts around book bans both in its special and in its corresponding social media communications.

In the lead-up to its special, "60 Minutes" tweeted, "There were over 3,000 book bans in U.S. schools last year. That rise is inspired, in part, by the conservative group Moms for Liberty."

Dr. Jay Greene, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy, suggested this claim was "simply false, even if one accepts the loose definition of ban as 'no longer available in a school library.'"

"60 Minutes" appears to have been regurgitating a debunked narrative advanced by the organization PEN America.

Greene, Max Eden, and Madison Marino noted in a report last year that they had gone through PEN's 2022 list of 2,532 banned books. After determining that 1,868 books were actually in districts with public card catalogs, the researchers confirmed that 1,378 books, "or 74 percent, are listed as available in the school district libraries from which PEN said they had been banned. Of the 1,261 books PEN labeled as 'Banned -- Pending Investigation,' 1,015, or 80 percent, were present in school libraries."

With the exception to 203 books in Texas and 174 books in Florida, the report revealed that only 113 books had been "successfully challenged in a calendar year amongst more than 10,000 school districts."

The 10 most "actually banned" books were found to "contain sexually explicit, if not outright pornographic, passages that few reasonable people would insist belong in a school library," according to the report.

Blaze News reached out to "60 Minutes" for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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'60 Minutes' finally responds to criticism for hit piece on Florida Gov. DeSantis: 'Some viewers ... applauded the story'



After a week of getting slapped around for a clear hit piece on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis accusing the executive of a pay-to-play scheme involving COVID-19 vaccine distribution, CBS News' "60 Minutes" finally responded Sunday night.

However, the response was limited to a claim that "some viewers" — including, the show noted, a "retired newsman" — actually "applauded" what was the program's deceptively edited exchange and smear of DeSantis. The short CBS News reaction said "viewers focused" on the edited back-and-forth with the governor, and it failed to address the controversy at the heart of the criticisms.

What's the background?

The long-running news show ran a deceptively edited segment with Gov. DeSantis on April 4, accusing the governor of corruption.

CBS News' Sharyn Alfonsi reported that the governor received a $100,000 donation to his PAC from Publix grocery stores, which later partnered with the state to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. "60 Minutes" aired a clip of Alfonsi confronting DeSantis at a news conference, accusing the governor of engaging in a "pay-to-play" scheme by giving Publix exclusive rights to distribute the vaccine in exchange for the donation.

DeSantis told the reporter she was spreading a "fake narrative" and then corrected the record in an extended answer, which was cut out of the segment by CBS editors before it aired.

The news program's efforts were so egregious that even CNN's Brian Stelter pointed out CBS' malfeasance. And the Democratic mayor of Palm Beach County, Dave Kerner, came out in defense of DeSantis, saying the report "was not just based on bad information — it was intentionally false."

What did '60 Minutes' say?

One week later, after taking a beating online — both from the left and the right — "60 Minutes" addressed the controversy ... in a less-than-one-minute segment that appeared to blame viewers who "focused" on the show's deceptive editing.

Sunday's episode ended with Alfonsi addressing her hit piece in a "mail" segment about messages from viewers regarding the anti-DeSantis report.

"Viewers focused on an exchange with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference," Alfonsi began, neglecting to note it was her "exchange" with DeSantis that people were "focused on."

As she reported the messages from viewers, Alfonsi focused first on positive feedback CBS had received, including from a "retired newsman."

"Some viewers, including a retired newsman, applauded the story," Alfonsi said. "Ron DeSantis will continue to deny, refute ... call your reporting a witch hunt ... I can only hope ... that you continue to investigate and expose the truth," she continued, quoting "retired newsman" Nick Boryack of Vero Beach, Florida.

But that's where the glowing reviews of Alfonsi's report ended.

"Many more comments condemned our editing and reporting," Alfonsi said, without saying what the actual problems with the editing and reporting were.

"Shameful biased reporting — that is what you are guilty of. You are no longer journalists, but lobbyists and advocates," one viewer wrote, Alfonsi said.

Anther viewer wrote, "I have watched 60 MINUTES for decades. After you biased piece on Governor DeSantis, I will only watch it one more time. Just to see if you broadcast this message," the reporter said.

And with that, Alfonsi signed off without uttering a word about her role in the controversy, a correction, or any information on what happened.

Sunday’s @60Minutes ended with @Sharyn_Alfonsi reading comments about her shoddy hit piece on @RonDeSantisFL. She d… https://t.co/KtBAd4VpRE
— Brent Baker (@Brent Baker)1618187446.0

(H/T: HotAir)

'60 Minutes' gets torched on social media for defending controversial editing of Gov. DeSantis' comments



CBS News defended its reporting on "60 Minutes" that appeared to deceptively edit comments by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to bolster their accusation that he had abused his power to benefit a political donor.

After facing public outcry over the controversial segment, CBS released a statement justifying the report.

"When Florida state data revealed people of color were vaccinated at a much lower rate than their wealthier neighbors, 60 MINUTES reported the facts surrounding the vaccine's rollout, which is controlled by the governor," the statement read.

"We requested and conducted interviews with dozens of sources and authorities involved. We requested an interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis, he declined; We spoke to State Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz twice, but he declined to be interviewed on camera for our story until well after our deadline. The idea we ignored their perspective is untrue," the network statement continued.

"Counter to his statement yesterday, we also spoke on the record with Palm Beach County Mayor David Kerner," the statement added. "For over 50 years, the facts reported by 60 MINUTES have often stirred debate and prompted strong reactions. Our story Sunday night speaks for itself."

Many noted that the statement didn't address the damaging accusation from the Democratic mayor of Palm Beach County who said that CBS neglected to include his comments defending DeSantis. The statement misleadingly implies that Kerner accused "60 Minutes" of not seeking his comment.

"No retraction, no correction, no apology. They're standing by this dreadful work, which might constitute actual malice, given Kerner's accusation, which they haven't refuted. Disgraceful," responded Fox News contributor Guy Benson.

The @60Minutes story accusing Governor DeSantis of pay to play regarding vaccine distribution was a terrible political hit job.
— Lindsey Graham (@Lindsey Graham)1617720580.0

"The @60Minutes story accusing Governor DeSantis of pay to play regarding vaccine distribution was a terrible political hit job," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Earlier on Tuesday, the governor addressed the controversy directly and excoriated the news program.

"They cut out everything that showed that their narrative was a piece of horse manure," DeSantis said to reporters.

"I know corporate media thinks that they can just run over people, you ain't running over this governor," he added. "I'm punching back."

Here's more about the '60 Minutes' controversy:

Palm Beach County mayor calls '60 Minutes' report on Florida vaccines 'intentionally false'www.youtube.com