News/Commentary

’60 Minutes’ pulls segment on El Salvador’s notorious terrorist prison, leftists howl

December 22, 2025 | | Print Article

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss is at the center of the latest leftist outrage storm after the pulling of a report on alleged torture at the notorious El Salvador prison, where illegal alien gang members were sent by the Trump administration.

The report, which was set to air on Sunday’s edition of network flagship “60 Minutes,” featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing recently released prisoners who spent time at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) megaprison, which houses the Latin American nation’s most violent criminals.

But it didn’t run, with an editor’s note posted to social media hours before it was scheduled, vaguely stating that  “The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated.” The promo was also taken down, but not before it was grabbed by left-wing influencers who are sharing it on X.

Titled “Inside CECOT,” the report would have been used by Democrats and their allies to attack President Donald J. Trump and further undermine his policies, much as the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib during the Iraq War was weaponized against another Republican president, George W. Bush.

“Earlier this year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, a country most had no ties to, claiming they were terrorists. This move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and nine months later, the U.S. government still has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons,” read a press release for the segment, according to Fox News. The press release has also been taken down.

In an email sent to colleagues by Alfonsi that has been posted to X, the reporter accused Weiss of having “spiked our story” and likened it to the quashing of a report on tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand in the 1980s, a scandal detailed in the Al Pacino-Russell Crowe movie “The Insider.”

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Alfonsi also claimed that Weiss refused to speak to her.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct,” wrote Alfonsi.

“In my view, pulling it now – after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one,” she added in the scathing email.

Weiss defended the decision to pull the story.

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“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready,” she said in a statement.

Leftists took to X, where they let loose their primal screams at the daily outrage.

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Some are calling for CBS News insiders to leak the segment.

After the foreign criminals were deported in March, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted a video of them being warmly welcomed to the facility to X.

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Democrats have decried the deportation of the members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua who were sent to CECOT, which also very briefly housed “Maryland man” and resistance poster boy Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien thug that the administration is forbidden from deporting.

Weiss has been attacked by leftists ever since she took over, and there are increasing signs that she may soon be saddled with a full-blown mutiny, with the CECOT decision adding to the internal tension, which was already showing signs of boiling over.

Chris Donaldson
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