Trump unhappy with Harris' '60 Minutes' interview after canceling his own

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on Oct 9, 2024

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Former President Donald Trump chose not to sit down with “60 Minutes,” but he’s nevertheless quite upset with the network’s treatment of Vice President Kamala Harris after she filled the vacuum left by his absence.

Despite his choice not to answer an invitation to appear for an extended interview with the long-running newsmagazine, it seems Trump caught his opponent’s sit-down talk with CBS News reporter Bill Whitaker as or after it aired Monday evening, and he woke up Wednesday clearly still displeased with what he’d seen.

“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,” Trump said shortly after 7 a.m. via his Truth Social media platform, capitalization his.

According to the 45th President and Republican nominee, Harris’ appearance could amount to a “Major Campaign Finance Violation” but one way or the other the interview is a “stain on the reputation of 60 Minutes that is not recoverable.”

“It will always remain with this once storied brand. I have never heard of such a thing being done in ‘News.’ It is the very definition of FAKE NEWS! The public is owed a MAJOR AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY! This is an open and shut case, and must be investigated, starting today!” he wrote, capitalization again his.

Presidential candidates have agreed to sit with 60 Minutes for more than half of a century, according to CBS News reporter Scott Pelley, and at first Trump was no different. However, Harris’ appearance alone on Monday evening only came after Trump was also invited to an interview, apparently agreed, but then backed out at the last minute.

“The campaign offered shifting explanations. First, it complained that we would fact check the interview. We fact check every story. Later, Trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. Trump claims correspondent Leslie Stahl said in that interview that Hunter Biden’s controversial laptop came from Russia. She never said that,” Pelley said.

Both campaigns, Pelley said, were warned the show’s pre-election day special would air regardless of whether either party participated.

Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, called for the network to release an unedited version of the Harris interview, after the network allegedly cut out parts of the Vice President’s “word salad.”

“What else did they choose not to air? The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview. We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?” she said in a statement.

According to the Harris-Walz campaign, Trump has been dodging any unfriendly press for weeks, just like he ducked a second debate with Harris.

“Americans are starting to have real questions about Donald Trump’s capacity. He is cocooned in his safe spaces in right wing media, he backed out of 60 Minutes, and he refuses to stand before the American people in another debate,” Harris-Walz 2024 spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. “He should say whether it’s because he’s scared or because he just can’t hack it. With only 27 days left in the election cycle, he is projecting weakness, not strength.”

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