60 Minutes is back in the news. Amazingly, they still won’t release the transcript of their interview with Kamala Harris. It is getting truly bizarre to me that they are holding onto this thing like it is the Holy Grail and we are not allowed to see it. But they did finally come out with a with a statement on the matter over the weekend.
The Controversy
As a reminder, Kamala Harris sat down with Bill Whitaker on 60 Minutes in an interview that aired October 7. The vice president gave a word salad answer in response to questioning over Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
We know she gave a word solid answer that made no sense because 60 Minutes used that clip as the teaser for the interview. They ran it on their Sunday show, Face the Nation, and then again on Monday before the actual interview aired.
By the time we got to 60 Minutes, they played that same question from Whitaker – but Kamala Harris’ response was not the same. She had a different answer in which she sounded much more cogent, which led many to wonder (1) what happened to the word salad and (2) did 60 Minutes try to make her look better?
It quickly turned into a whole thing. 60 Minutes would not comment on the allegations. Donald Trump and a group of former CBS News employees demanded an investigation. Many have asked, at the bare minimum, for the news magazine to release the raw transcript because, if there is nothing to hide and you didn’t do anything unethical, the transcript makes this whole story goes away.
The Statement
Finally, 60 Minutes issued a statement on Sunday – sans a full or even partial transcript of the portion of the interview in question – and here is what they had to say:
“Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false.
60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.
Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated.
Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open. If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on 60 Minutes.”
Just in case you had any doubt of their hackery, they begin and end with Donald Trump. ‘Trump is the one making the accusation.’ No, it is most of the nation at this point who sees what you did. And it ends with: ‘He’s the one who pulled out of the interview; and if he wants to say something, he can say it to our face.’ That is really what they did here.
Breaking Norms
Now, what we saw on 60 Minutes was not just like 10 words that we heard in the 40 word salad version that came out the day before. The words were not in the first word salad answer, which is what raised eyebrows. Did that even come from the same answer, or did it come from later in the transcript?
60 Minutes seems to be saying it came from the same answer, but there is absolutely no proof of that. All we have is 60 Minutes‘ word that it was in response to the same question and part of the same answer. Okay, then at least put out a transcript of the full answer to that question from Whitaker, so we can see where you where you pulled from and how much more there was. Did she say a whole lot more? How much did you do to cover up for her and make her sound more cogent than she was?
Here’s the thing: I have been a part of countless pre-taped interviews where the person goes on and on and on. Back in 2016, I had an interview with Donald Trump that had to be taped in advance, and he said he didn’t want to be edited. I wouldn’t agree to that because I couldn’t just cede the show to him. I told him I would edit it, but I would make sure all of his substantive points were included. And that is what happened.
Sure enough, when I sat down, all Trump kept saying was ‘China, China, China’ and ‘the wall, the wall, the wall.’ That is fine for him to do, but we cut it down. He wanted those points referenced 500 times each and, in the end, it only wound up being like 15 each. That is normal. We do that all the time in television.
What is not normal, however, is to take a piece of the answer that is not connected to the answer previously released and sub it in as the new answer in a way that reflects better on the candidate. Moreover, when it blows up in your face and people accuse you of being partisan hacks for trying to help the interviewee, why not just say, ‘We’ve got nothing hide. Here is the transcript’?
I happily released that whole transcript of Trump saying ‘China, China, China’ 500 times. But 60 Minutes won’t. They won’t even release the transcript of this specific Q&A, which suggests to me they do have something to hide.
Unethical, Dumb, or Both?
There is definitely something very sketchy going on at CBS News. Between this, and the vice presidential debate, and the Tony Dokoupil interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, the network is in the midst of some sort of crisis.
I guess we can assume – because they so – that the answer we got on 60 Minutes came from the actual answer to the question, but I am not sure I am ready to give them the benefit of the doubt.
My point is: Release the transcript. What could it possibly hurt other than your reputation (if you did something unethical) or her reputation (if she sounds like an idiot)? If you did nothing unethical and she sounds dumb, then there is no question you need to release it. Any journalist would say it is not my job to make her sound smarter than she is.
But I feel like it is one of those two things: Either they look unethical, she looks dumb, or both.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 922 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.