Donald Trump Posts Raw Footage Of ’60 Minutes’ Interview; CBS News Says White House Broke Agreement

Ted Johnson
·5 min read

UPDATE, with the video: CBS News said that the White House broke an agreement by posting footage of an interview that President Donald Trump had with correspondent Lesley Stahl.

“The White House’s unprecedented decision to disregard their agreement with CBS News and release their footage will not deter 60 Minutes from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades,” the network said in a statement. “60 Minutes, the most-watched news program on television, is widely respected for bringing its hallmark fairness, deep reporting and informative context to viewers each week. Few journalists have the presidential interview experience Lesley Stahl has delivered over her decades as one of the premier correspondents in America and we look forward to audiences seeing her third interview with President Trump and subsequent interview with Vice President Pence this weekend.”

During the interview, Trump complains that he’s getting unfair treatment from the media, and that CBS News and 60 Minutes haven’t been covering the Hunter Biden and “Obamagate” stories. Stahl, though, tells him, “This is 60 Minutes, and we can’t put on things that we can’t verify.”

At the end of the interview, Trump complains that Stahl “brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up.”

They then have a back and forth, with Stahl saying, “You are president. Don’t you think you should be accountable to the American people?”

Trump then complains that she did an interview with Joe Biden that was “softball after softball,” but Stahl says that she didn’t do an interview with Biden.

“You started with me, your first statement was, ‘Are you ready for tough questions?’ That’s no way to talk,” Trump says.

Then someone comes on and says that they have minutes until Vice President Mike Pence will join them.

“I think we have enough. They already have enough,” Trump says. He didn’t return for the rest of the scheduled segment.

Trump later posted footage of Vice President Mike Pence’s interview with Stahl. Conducted just after Trump ended his appearance, Stahl asks Pence, “So what just happened with the president?”

“Lesley, President Trump is a man who speaks his mind.”

UPDATE, 8:38 AM PT: Donald Trump posted what he said was footage from his interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl.

The president wrote on Twitter, “Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS. Tonight’s anchor, Kristen Welker, is far worse! #MAGA.”

Welker, who is with NBC News, is moderating the final presidential debate in Nashville on Thursday evening. Trump has attacked her in advance of the event, but he previously praised her when she was promoted in January to weekend co-anchor of Today.

He linked to footage posted on his Facebook page.

Trump sat down with Stahl on Tuesday before bailing on the rest of the segment. The White House recorded the interview, but told CBS that it would only be for archival purposes.

The video starts with Stahl asking Trump, “Are you ready for some tough questions?”

“Just be fair,” Trump tells her.

“But last time I remember you telling me, ‘bring it on,'” Stahl responds.

“I’m not looking for that now. I’m looking for fairness, that’s all.”

“You will get fairness, but you are Ok with some tough questions,” Stahl says.

“No I’m not,” Trump says, adding that “you don’t ask Biden tough questions.”

Stahl fact checks Trump during the interview, and the president accuses her of having a “negative attitude.”

PREVIOUSLY, 6:01 AM PT: Donald Trump said that he will release a “full, unedited preview” of his interview on the upcoming 60 Minutes, to show what he calls correspondent Lesley Stahl’s “constant interruptions and anger.”

He tweeted on Thursday, “I will soon be giving a first in television history full, unedited preview of the vicious attempted “takeout” interview of me by Lesley Stahl of @60Minutes. Watch her constant interruptions & anger. Compare my full, flowing and ‘magnificently brilliant’ answers to their ‘Q’s’.”

The tweet came after CBS News released the first clips from the segment, along with one from an interview with Vice President Joe Biden.

In the clip, Stahl asks Trump, “Let me ask you what you think your — the biggest domestic priority is for you right now.”

Trump responds, “I’ll tell you, it was happening. We created the greatest economy in the history of our country. And the other side was — ”

Then Stahl says, “You know that’s not true.”

“It is totally true,” Trump says.

“No,” Stahl says, smiling.

On Tuesday, when Stahl and the 60 Minutes crew came to the White House to tape the interview, Trump cut his appearance short. He’s complained about Stahl since then. He’s also threatened to release footage that the White House took of the interview, but CBS sources said that the agreement was that it would be used for archival purposes.

Biden, meanwhile, told Norah O’Donnell about how he plans to address one proposal coming from the left, that additional members be added to the Supreme Court. He said that he plans to put together “a national commission of bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal, conservative.”

He added, “And I will ask them to over 180 days come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it’s getting out of whack, the way in which it’s being handled, and it’s not about court packing. There’s a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated and I’ve looked to see what recommendations that commission might make.”

The 60 Minutes segments also will feature Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).

Both segments were previewed on Thursday on CBS This Morning.

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