Posted in: CBS, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: 60 minutes, donald trump, kamala harris, opinion

60 Minutes Shuts Down Trump Over VP Harris/"Deceitful Editing" Claim

CBS's 60 Minutes shut down Donald Trump's claim that the news magazine edited its VP Kamala Harris interview to make VP Harris look better.

The public war of words between the campaign of ex-reality show host, multi-impeached ex-POTUS, and convicted felon Donald Trump and CBS's 60 Minutes took another turn on Sunday night. Earlier this month, the long-running news magazine aired its traditional primetime election special – focusing solely on VP Kamala Harris and her VP pick, Gov. Tim Walz. But before the special aired, news anchor Scott Pelley addressed why Trump was not a part of it. After noting that plans were for an interview with Trump to take place at Mar-A-Lago and to film Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Pelley noted that Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director, was in communication with the news magazine about finalizing plans. According to Pelley, that changed a week prior to the special airing, when the Trump campaign backed out and began offering "shifting explanations" as to the reason,

Those "explanations" ranged from the campaign taking issue with Trump's and Vance's words being fact-checked to Trump needing "an apology for his interview in 2020." The interview that he's referencing was with correspondent Lesley Stahl, with Trump claiming that Stahl said that the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden's laptop originated in Russie (Pelley: "She never said that"). "Trump has said his opponent doesn't do interviews because she can't handle them. He had previously declined another debate with Harris. So tonight may have been the largest audience for the candidates between now and Election Day," Pelley added.

After the interview with Harris aired, Trump and his lackeys began accusing 60 Minutes of manipulating the interview, editing it to make VP Harris look good. Well, the long-running news magazine wasn't about to let those accusations go unanswered. "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 CBS show posted in a statement earlier this evening.

The statement continued, "'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."

From there, 60 Minutes reminded everyone of who was responsible for Trump not being interviewed – Trump. "Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with '60 Minutes,' and the vice president participated. 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."

Here's a look back at how the award-winning, long-running CBS News program addressed the Trump campaign's shifting reasons for refusing to do an interview:

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