Donald Trump is calling for CBS News to be stripped of its license and pulled from the air after it edited a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The former president is furious that the network posted a version of an interview with Harris on YouTube that removed her “Word Salad” comment about the war between Israel and Hamas, which was widely criticized on social media when the episode originally aired on Monday.
Trump’s son Eric also contributed to the edited clip, writing about X: “How is this legal? The mainstream media in this country is deeply corrupt and broken.”
Thursday isn’t the first time Trump has called for a news network to be pulled from the air.
After the Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, the former president called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke ABC News’ license over its moderating style, which included real-time fact-checking.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel stressed that her agency would not revoke the licenses because of the political candidates’ disagreements with the network, saying Trump’s latest attack is a “threat to free speech” that “cannot be ignored.”
Donald Trump demanded that CBS News’ license be revoked and pulled from the air after the network aired an edited version of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris
“As I have said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy,” the president said in a statement Thursday. “The FCC does not and will not revoke broadcast licenses simply because a political candidate disagrees with or is unhappy with the content or reporting.”
The FCC is a federal agency that issues licenses to individual broadcasters and renews them every eight years.
When reviewing licenses, the FCC determines whether renewal is in the public interest.
Courts have consistently upheld that the First Amendment prohibits the FCC from stripping a broadcaster of its license based on editorial decisions.
“A huge fake news scam by CBS & 60 Minutes,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. “HER REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY OR STUPID so they basically REPLACED it with another answer to save her or at least make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM that is completely illegal.”
“PLEASE REMOVE CBS’ LICENSE,” he demanded in all caps, adding, “Election interference.”
The tirade continued: “She’s an idiot, and the fake news media wants to hide that fact. An unprecedented scandal!!! The Democrats put her up to this and should they be forced to concede the election? WOW!”
Trump’s campaign demanded that CBS release the full, unedited transcript of the 60 Minutes interview.
“If 60 Minutes had an ounce of integrity, they would release the full, unedited interview,” Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, wrote on X.
“The person who can’t answer basic national security questions wants to be our next president. Let’s see what she actually said in full.”
He accused the network of trying to make his Democratic competitor look “more presidential” and said their move to favor the 2024 candidate is a “campaign finance violation.”
The 60 Minutes interview was part of Harris’ pre-Election Day media blitz that aired Monday night, and the network posted the episode on the show’s official YouTube page.
But X users were quick to point out that at least one question had been edited to change her answer in the YouTube version.
Trump said CBS News owed the public an apology.
CBS News and its parent company Paramount Global did not respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com about the decision-making behind the edited clip.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said in a statement Tuesday night, “Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s entire word salad, and what else did they not air?”
“The American people deserve the complete, unedited transcript of Kamala’s interview. We are asking 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they and Kamala have to hide?” she added.
She called Harris’ response to 60 Minutes host Bill Whitaker “idiotic.”
Host Bill Whitaker asked Harris if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu listened to the US and if the administration had any influence on the Jewish state’s decision-making in the conflict with Hamas terrorists operating out of Gaza.
“Well Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of moves in that region by Israel that were very much motivated by or the result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to be done in the region,” Harris replied.
Her response was peppered with long pauses and hesitant wording.
Social media erupted with conservatives unhappy with the lack of response, speaking out to criticize the VP’s “word salad” on X.
One user asked someone to “interpret” her response for him.
But after the episode aired on 60 Minutes Monday night, the version of the show posted to YouTube did not include Harris’s nonsensical response, but instead a more condensed, straightforward and confident response.
“We will not stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to make it clear where we stand on the need to end this war,” Harris said in the redacted response to Whitaker.
Pro-MAGA accounts and conservatives on X were quick to point out the change.
“I’ve never seen this before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, “but the producers of 60 Minutes cut and pasted Lyin’ Kamala’s answers to questions, which were pretty much incoherent … to make her look ‘more presidential,’ or at least better.”
“It could also be a major campaign finance violation,” he claimed.
“This is a stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that cannot be repaired. It will always be with this once legendary brand. I have never heard of anything like this being done in ‘News’. It is the definition of FAKE NEWS! The public deserves a BIG AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY! This is an open and shut case and must be investigated starting today!”
The interview aired on Monday, the same day that marked the one-year anniversary of the start of the Middle East conflict after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and carried out the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
After the backlash to her 60 Minutes comment, CBS News appears to have decided to edit the vice president’s comment.
Harris’ media strategy has largely steered clear of sit-down interviews with television networks, focusing more on nontraditional avenues, such as talking to racy, sex-oriented podcast host Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy fame.
The 60 Minutes interview was one of her few extended sit-downs with a traditional television network.