News/Commentary

Trump campaign slams ‘fake news’ reports that he backed out of ’60 Minutes’ interview

October 2, 2024 | | Print Article

CBS News claimed in a statement released just a few hours before Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate that former President Donald Trump backed out of a previously scheduled interview with 60 Minutes that the campaign had agreed to.

The Trump campaign disputed that accusation, insisting “nothing was ever locked in.” Keep in mind, Trump sat down with 60 Minutes veteran Leslie Stahl days before the 2020 election, and would later take exception to Stahl showing her bias by gleefully dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, claiming the network could not “verify” that the laptop was real.

“A Programming Note: 60 Minutes is scheduled to air a primetime election special on a Monday edition of the broadcast on October 7 at 8 PM. For over half a century, 60 Minutes has invited the Democratic and Republican tickets to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls,” the newsmagazine said on X.

“This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes. Vice President Harris will speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker. After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate. Pelley will address this Monday evening.”

“Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned. Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on 60 Minutes stands.”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung released a statement of his own denying that the 2024 Republican nominee backed out of the interview.

“Fake News. 60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in,” he wrote. “They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.”

Responding to a post from CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter citing two sources in support of the 60 Minutes claim, Cheung wrote, “Wrong. We had already long promised an exclusive on filming at Butler to another national outlet. Also, President Trump won’t even be at MAL on Thursday, as we previously announced a campaign visit to Michigan.”

Cheung also posted this, “60 Minutes is a relic of the past, unable to keep up with the times and changing media environment, instead turning into liberal, biased propaganda. Nobody ever says, ‘Oh, did you see what happened on 60 Minutes?’ Instead, people usually ask, ’60 Minutes is still on?'”

When asked by CNN if there was still a chance Trump may sit for the interview, Cheung said, “Now that they’ve lied about the interaction, they just f**ked themselves.”

Trump supporters were happy with their candidate not sitting down with 60 Minutes, as seen in the responses below from X:

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