President Donald Trump is reportedly in talks with CBS News to do an interview with “60 Minutes” — the same show he sued over its sit-down with Kamala Harris that he claimed was deceptively edited.
The White House is demanding that CBS News air the interview with Trump unedited, according to the Semafor news site.
Bill Whitaker, the “60 Minutes” correspondent who conducted the Harris interview that led to parent company Paramount paying Trump a $16 million sum to settle the lawsuit, will handle the segment with the president, Semafor reported.
White House officials initially discussed a sitdown last Friday while Trump was in New York for the UN General Assembly and the Ryder Cup, but the timetable slipped due to the president’s schedule, according to Semafor.
The Post has sought comment from the White House, CBS News and parent company Paramount Skydance.
With CBS News part of a new corporate structure headed by David Ellison, the division is on the verge of major changes to its editorial bent.
Ellison is reportedly set to name The Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News. Paramount will also acquire Weiss’s news site for an estimated $150 million in a cash and stock deal.
Last year, Trump, who at the time was a candidate for president, filed suit against CBS over a “60 Minutes” interview that the show conducted with his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
At issue was the broadcast’s editing. Harris was shown giving two different answers to a question about Israel by Whitaker in clips aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation.”
Both responses came as part of a long-winded answer that Harris gave to Whitaker.
Trump said CBS was trying to make his opponent look better; CBS said that claim had no merit in trying to get the case thrown out. Many legal experts dismissed the president’s claim.
But the Trump-appointed head of the Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation — a complication for Paramount as it seeks administration approval of its proposed merger with Skydance Media.
In August, Skydance and Paramount officially closed their $8 billion merger — marking the end of Shari Redstone’s tenure as controlling shareholder of Paramount parent company National Amusements.
With Post Wires
