Trump Releases Unedited 60 Minutes Interview Footage
In what’s turned out to be a delivered promise on a threat, the Trump administration has released unedited footage from Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, which they recorded during the program’s taping at the White House on Tuesday. The interview, conducted by veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl, is still scheduled to air on CBS on Sunday.
The network issued a statement on CBS News, saying the unprecedented disregard for the agreement between the program and the White House will “not deter 60 MINUTES from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades.”
Reportedly, the president walked out of the interview during the taping, threatening to release the White House recording, in a display of his dissatisfaction with the questions Stahl posed. During the 37-minute exchange, Stahl pressed Trump about his pandemic response, the state of the economy and Trump’s unfounded claim that the Obama administration had “spied” on his campaign. Stahl further challenged the president by informing him there is no clear evidence to support his accusation, saying “You know this is ‘60 Minutes.’ And we can’t put on things we can’t verify.”
Sunday’s broadcast is scheduled to include a separate interview with Joe Biden, conducted by CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell which was taped on Monday, as well as interviews with Vice Presidential running mates Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.
Ann Sullivan is a contributing staff writer covering national and world news topics. She brings dedicated experience having written international and domestic news, blogs, and web content for over 20 years. She’s also a published poet and graphic designer with degrees in Business and Graphic Communications and has been a music distributor, music industry sponsorship sales director and band manager.