Trump puts a spotlight on editing at ‘60 Minutes’

Donald Trump skipped a “60 Minutes” interview this past week, but he’s attacking CBS for how it handled its session with opponent Kamala Harris, calling it a “giant fake news scam” and suggesting the network was out to protect her.

Portions of the Harris interview ran Monday on the newsmagazine and on the Sunday morning political show “Face the Nation.” On two occasions, it depicted Harris giving different answers to questions posed by correspondent Bill Whitaker on the Biden administration’s efforts to stop the war in the Mideast.

For CBS News, it was considered part of the typical editing and cross-promotion process that takes place for a big interview. Yet to those unfamiliar with journalism and television production, the effect can be jarring.

How did Harris appear to give two answers?

Whitaker interviewed Harris on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 28, in Washington for the special broadcast that aired Monday, two days later. But “60 Minutes” offered a portion of that interview to colleagues at “Face the Nation,” both to give the Sunday morning show some fresh news and to “tease” the longer interview.

At one point, Whitaker observed that it appeared Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, did not appear to be listening to the administration’s suggestions.

“Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” the vice president said in response, on the “Face the Nation” clip.

On “60 Minutes,” after Whitaker said the same thing, Harris answered: “We’re not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

After the differences were pointed out online, Trump said on his Truth Social feed that Harris’ “REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, to make her look better.”

So what did Harris actually say to Whitaker?

Well, both things, according to CBS. Her full answer to the question was the two sentences put together — the first sentence used on “Face the Nation” and the second sentence on “60 Minutes.”

CBS said the need to make the “60 Minutes” interview segment concise prompted the editing. The full interview with Harris took 45 minutes, and it was fit into a 20-minute slot on the broadcast. Yet the editing made it appear that the answer shown on “60 Minutes” was the first thing Harris said in response to the question. Having “Face the Nation” show Whitaker asking the question — instead of having someone paraphrase it — added to the confusion and made CBS vulnerable to criticism.

The network would not respond to Trump’s criticisms on the record but privately insisted nothing was done with the intention of benefiting Harris. The network has pointed out that the same process was in place when Trump was interviewed for the show several times earlier.

Asked about the flap by Variety, an aide to the Harris campaign said that “we do not control CBS’ production decisions.”

Two, not just one, interview answers were edited differently

According to an examination of the broadcasts, the same thing happened with the question that preceded Whitaker’s observation that the Israeli leader did not appear to be listening to the U.S. Whitaker outlined a number of actions that Netanyahu had taken that the Biden administration had urged him not to, and asked, “Does the administration have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?”

On “60 Minutes,” Harris’ answer was brief: “The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles.”

Yet on “Face the Nation,” Harris was shown giving an answer that lasted a full minute — and did not even include the quote that was used on “60 Minutes” the next night. As part of that answer, Harris spoke of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. “We’re not going to stop in terms of putting the pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders,” she said.

The Trump campaign has called for CBS News to release a full, unedited transcript of the Harris interview. “What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?” said Karoline Leavitt, the campaign’s press secretary. The show sometimes airs longer versions of interviews online but does not release unedited transcripts.

During his 2020 campaign against Democrat Joe Biden, Trump was so annoyed with his interview with “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl that he cut short the session, and later released the campaign’s recording of the full, unedited interview.

Meanwhile, some of Trump’s critics have condemned the media this fall for editing and sanitizing some of his words during rallies and social media posts, a process they’ve called “sanewashing.”