Topline
Comments about his lawsuit against the show, claims the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” and attempts to talk journalist Norah O’Donnell into agreeing crime has gone down in Washington D.C. since his election were all cut from a lengthy “60 Minutes” interview with President Donald Trump before it aired on CBS Sunday night, sparking criticism from Trump critics and his own FCC.
President Donald Trump on Oct. 28, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
Getty Images
Key Facts
CBS aired a 28-minute version of O’Donnell’s interview with Trump Sunday night before later releasing a 73-minute-long extended version online and posting a full transcript of the conversation, prompting backlash from critics of both sides who slammed the network for what it chose to not include in the shortened version that aired on broadcast television.
Among the topics not included in the initial edit were Trump’s comments about his lawsuit against CBS last year, when he sued the network for editing a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in a way to make her look good before the 2024 election.
Trump has not commented on the episode since it was released.
Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you’ll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here: joinsubtext.com/forbes.
What Did Trump Say That Was Cut From The Broadcast Show?
Trump, who told O’Donnell she could cut his comment from the interview, said, “’60 Minutes’ was forced to pay me a lot of money… You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.” He then went on to say he sees “good things happening in the news” thanks to the recent acquisition of Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, by David Ellison’s Skydance Media: “I think it’s the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time to a free and open and good press” (last month Trump called the Ellisons “big supporters of mine”). Among other comments cut from the initial broadcast were claims the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen” and an attempt to get O’Donnell, who lives in Washington D.C., to admit she’d seen a reduction in crime in the city since he took office. After asking her several times if she’d noticed a difference, O’Donnell said she hadn’t “been out and about that much,” to which Trump replied, “Oh, that’s not a fair answer. You see the difference.” Trump several times acknowledged that the interview was going to be edited, saying things like “you don’t have to put this on” and “you don’t have to use that one.”
Key Background
The interview was the first Trump has done with “60 Minutes” in five years and the first since his lawsuit over the Harris interview. He sued for $20 billion and claimed the show deceptively edited Harris’ answer to a question about the Israel-Hamas war after a preview of the interview used a different answer than the official broadcast. The network later released a full transcript of the interview that showed it ran the first sentence of her answer in the preview and the last sentence during the show. Paramount later agreed to pay $16 million to settle the lawsuit, and admitted no wrongdoing. Networks commonly edit interviews for clarity and length to fit their broadcast schedule.
Chief Critic
CBS and O’Donnell have taken flack from elected officials and other journalists for how the interview was conducted, and the heavy edits. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., posted to X: “Maybe I should file a complaint with the FCC against the Trump White House for editing his unhinged 60 Minutes interview. It will use the exact same language Trump lodged against Vice President Harris.” Jonathan Uriarte, spokesperson for FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, said the edits and Trump’s seeming awareness they would be made “could qualify as news distortion and deserves an investigation” according to the standard set by the Trump FCC. Political commentator Tim Miller posted on X: “60 Minutes did not air the part where Trump discusses his success in extorting the network and calls them Fake News. This edit is harmful to me and I’m considering suing.” Former MSNBC host Joy Reid called out the interview style itself, saying, “Norah let Trump lie and lie with barely any pushback or provision of corrective facts.”
Contra
The White House on Monday morning pushed back against claims that edits of Trump’s interview were comparable to edits of Harris’s: “They deceptively edited Kamala’s answers to make her look somewhat coherent ahead of an election, you moron — then wouldn’t release the transcript/unedited interview,” the White House Rapid Response account posted in response to Schumer. “That’s not the same as editing for time constraints (AND the transcript/unedited interview were both released).”