CBS News announced on Tuesday that Donald Trump has chosen to back out of his interview for a primetime “60 Minutes” broadcast scheduled to air ahead of the election.
“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,” the network said in a statement.
“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’s decision to abandon the interview follows in the footsteps of the candidate declining to be a part of a second debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
After multiple polls showed Harris as the definitive winner of the event, Trump has said he would not debate the vice president for a second time. In response, the Democratic Party launched an advertising campaign labeling Trump a “chicken.” Harris has repeatedly said she would like another debate with Trump so the candidates can present their contrasting visions to the voting public.
Trump has a troubled history with “60 Minutes.” In his 2020 interview with the network before the election, Trump walked out before it was over.
After correspondent Lesley Stahl asked him about his botched response to the COVID-19 pandemic and his constant streams attacking the media, Trump complained, “You’ve brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up.”
At a media availability on Tuesday, Trump said he was owed an apology for the 2020 interview.
“If you remember Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera, talking about [Hunter Biden] and other things. And you know, they really owed me an apology,” he said.
Trump has preferred to give interviews to friendly media outlets like Fox News, where he is unlikely to be challenged on his falsehoods and exaggerations. He has also supported using government power as retribution for media coverage that isn’t as positive as conservative media.
Trump has called for libel laws to be expanded to go after news outlets for “horrible and false articles,” said the FCC should fine pundits for negative remarks, and mused about pressing charges against a reporter for shouting questions at him.
Most recently, he discussed pulling ABC’s broadcast license because debate co-moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump for his lie that Haitian migrants are “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” in Springfield, Ohio.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
