Ex-President Donald Trump has declined an invitation for a “60 Minutes” interview slated for the upcoming week. He maintains that he is owed an apology from CBS News for what he perceives as an unfair interview conducted with him in 2020.
The program had extended interview invitations to both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the looming Election Day. Harris accepted, agreeing to converse with CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker, whereas Trump turned down the opportunity to be interviewed by Scott Pelley, which was supposed to be broadcast next Monday.
On Tuesday, CBS disclosed that Trump had initially accepted the interview proposal but later reneged. However, Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign Communications Director, countered the network’s claim by stating, “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.”
Cheung also pointed out the network’s unusual request for “live fact checking,” highlighting it as an extraordinary demand.
During a Tuesday press conference in Milwaukee, Trump revisited the issue of the “60 Minutes” interview, expressing his openness to participating in the show, contingent upon receiving an apology. He recalled an incident from October 2020 when he terminated an interview with Leslie Stahl who, according to Trump, corrected him several times and refuted allegations of Joe Biden being implicated in a controversy related to Hunter Biden’s laptop, which purportedly contained details of the Biden family’s supposed international business engagements.
Trump stated, “Well, right now, they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the ‘laptop from hell’ was from Russia, and I said it wasn’t from Russia.”
He further recalled, “If you remember Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera, talking about that and other things. And you know, they really owed me an apology,” Trump added.
Vice President Harris is set for her “60 Minutes” appearance on Monday, October 7. The discussion, as CBS mentioned, will cover a range of topics including the economy, immigration, and ongoing international disputes. Last year, following a severe attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, Harris, interviewed by Whitaker, was asked about the message the Biden-Harris administration would convey to Iran.
“Don’t,” was Harris’s succinct reply, echoing President Joe Biden’s one-word, unambiguous response.
This Tuesday saw a significant escalation in the Middle East conflict, with Iran launching over 150 missiles at Israel.