CBS admits it edited Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview to make her response ‘more concise’

Kamala Harris’ interview with 60 Minutes was edited to make her response “more concise,” CBS has admitted.

The network has been embroiled in a bias scandal after Donald Trump and his supporters accused it of deliberately editing a clip of an interview with the vice president to make her appear more competent.

In a preview broadcast a day before the interview, Ms. Harris was seen giving a “word salad” response to a question about Israel.

In the actual interview the next day, his answer to the same question was shorter and more to the point.

After weeks of silence, CBS responded to Trump’s comments on Sunday, calling them “false.”

The network, whose boss previously gave more than $6,000 to Democrats, also invited viewers to remember that it “pulled from his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated.”

“Former President Donald Trump accuses 60 Minutes of misleading editing of our October 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. This is false,” the statement said.

“60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to ‘Face the Nation’ that used a longer section of his answer than 60 Minutes did. Same question. Same answer. But a different part of the answer.

“When we edit any interview, whether it’s a politician, athlete or movie star, we strive to be clear, precise and to the point. The portion of his answer on 60 Minutes was more concise, which gives time for other topics in a broad 21-minute segment.”

CBS ’60 Minutes’

The former president went further Sunday, saying his team would “subpoena his records” and repeated calls for the CBC to revoke its broadcast license.

“They took out the whole ridiculous answer, and it was a long answer, and they replace it with a much shorter answer that has to do with a totally different issue, which also didn’t make sense,” Trump said.

“What we’re doing is we’re going to subpoena his records because we want to see how much more he did.”

After CBS’s statement was released, a Trump campaign spokesman claimed the show “just admitted to doing exactly what President Trump accused them of doing” and accused it of being “desperately biased “.

The scandal came to light when an excerpt of the interview was broadcast the day before the full publication showing the lengthy response given by Ms Harris to a question about Israel.

“The work we’ve done has led to a number of moves in this region by Israel that were very much motivated by, or as a result of, many things, including our advocacy of what needs to happen in the region “, he said. the clip

But when the interview aired on Monday’s show, Ms Harris appeared to give a more focused answer to the same question.

“We will not stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need to end this war,” he said in the second clip.

For more than 50 years, presidential candidates have sat down with 60 minutes before the election. However, Trump reportedly pulled out of the interview amid concerns about live verification of his comments.

On Sunday, the show renewed its offer for Trump to join the show for an interview.

“Our longstanding invitation to former President Trump remains open,” the network said. “If you’d like to discuss the issues facing the nation and interview Harris, we’d love to have you on 60 Minutes.”

The scandal over the two different responses deepened after The Telegraph revealed that the network’s chief executive, Wendy McMahon, gave $6,100 to the Biden campaign and Democratic fundraising platforms in 2020.

Filings with the Federal Election Commission show the television executive, who then worked for rival ABC, made nine campaign hits in the final three months of the 2020 election.

CBS News employees are prohibited from donating to political parties or campaigns to avoid the appearance of bias, although McMahon’s donations took place before he worked for the company.

It is understood that Ms McMahon, who has led the network since 2021, was not directly involved in editing the interview.

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