CBS News Heavily Edits Trump's 60 Minutes Sit-Down, Removing Boast Regarding Network Paying The President Large Funds

This broadcast network program the long-running news magazine heavily edited a conversation with Donald Trump that aired on Sunday evening, marking his first sit-down with the program since 2019.

Trump sat down with correspondent the CBS anchor for 90 minutes, but only about 28 minutes aired on television. A complete text version of the interview subsequently published, alongside a 73-minute online version of the conversation.

These cuts stand out because, precisely 12 months before Trump's interview on the program at his Mar-a-Lago resort, he had sued CBS regarding the editing of a 60 Minutes segment with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming it was deceptively edited to benefit her chances during the race.

Although numerous attorneys largely rejected the lawsuit as “meritless” and unlikely to hold up under the first amendment, CBS reached an agreement with the president for millions in July. As part of the agreement, the network had agreed that it would publish full records from upcoming discussions of presidential candidates.

During the opening of the broadcast, O’Donnell informed the audience that Paramount settled the legal dispute, but noted that “the settlement lacked any admission or expression of regret”.

In the conversation, in a clip omitted from broadcast, the president teased CBS over the settlement and repeated his claims toward the broadcaster.

“Actually the program paid me a substantial sum. And you don’t have to include this, because I don’t wanna embarrass you, and I trust that you are not,” the president stated. “But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me a large amount because they removed her answer from the segment which was damaging, it proved election-changing, two nights prior to voting. They inserted a different response into the broadcast. They compensated me a lot of money for that. We cannot tolerate false reporting. We must have truthful journalism. I believe this is occurring.”

In a separate segment not broadcast from the discussion, the president praised the sale of the network to new owners and said the broadcaster's new editor-in-chief, the journalist, was a “great new leader”.

Trump said he didn’t know the editor, yet informed O’Donnell: “People say she’s a great person.

“I think you have a talented director, frankly, that individual that’s leading your whole enterprise, is a great – based on what I've heard,” he said.

The president was particularly enthusiastic in complimenting David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, the recent purchaser of the network's parent firm, Paramount Global, through their company Skydance.

“I think one of the best things to happen is this show and new ownership, the network under new management,” Trump said. “I think it is a major improvement that has occurred for years toward a transparent and good press.”

The correspondent did not directly respond to the president’s comments about Weiss and the owners.

Among the president's responses which were cut were several comments doubting the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, which he said “had been manipulated and unlawfully taken”.

During one exchange in the conversation, in a part omitted from the broadcast, Trump tried to get O’Donnell to acknowledge that crime was down in Washington DC, where she lives.

“You reside in DC. You know that too,” the president remarked, asking the correspondent: “Have you noticed a difference?”

“I believe I have been occupied too hard,” O’Donnell replied. “I haven’t been outside that much … I drive to the studio and return home.”

Trump said “that is an evasion” and insisted that O’Donnell had observed an improvement.

The president then implied that the exchange need not be included on the show.

“You don’t have to include that part,” he noted. “Don’t worry, it's fine, I don’t want to embarrass her.”