As Legal Insurrection reported Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released what CBS News says was the full video and unedited transcript from the infamously heavily-edited 60 Minutes interview with failed 2024 Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris that aired in October (and which then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump sued them over later that month).
The network provided the information to the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau this week after a “news distortion” complaint was filed by the Center for American Rights (CAR) not long after the interview aired. The complaint had been dismissed just days before then-President-Elect Trump took office by outgoing FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel but was reopened shortly after Trump was inaugurated and appointed Brendan Carr to lead the FCC.
It was widely reported at the time of the interview’s broadcast that the media outlet had deceptively edited the full version that aired on TV (in contrast to an early online clip and transcript) to make an answer she gave to a question about U.S.-Israeli relations sound less word salady and more presidential.
As it turns out, that was not the only revealing moment from the interview that was confirmed by the release of the unedited version.
At the very end of their back-and-forth exchanges in a clip that did not air anywhere, the interviewer, CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker, expressed his belief that Harris’ “plans” were “logical,” but said that “the way Washington works is not logical.” In response – and after she and Whitaker are both told the cameras are off, she insinuates via yet another word salady answer that taxes will have to be raised (from transcript):
HARRIS: Thank you. Thank you, Bill. Good to be with you.CREW: Can we just get just a little bit of a question, please, so I can get an over the shoulder shot?WHITAKER: Yeah.CREW: One second [inaudible] okay. Thank you.WHITAKER: You need me talking?CREW: Yes, sir.WHITAKER: Well, we were talking about how you’re going to pay for it. And I mean, I truly do mean it, you know, your plans are logical, make logical sense.HARRIS: Mm-hmm.WHITAKER: The way Washington works is not logical. So how are you going to convince a divided Congress that what you say your plans are something that they should all agree to, and provide to the American people, when they’ve shown no inclination to do that up to this point?HARRIS: Is that what you needed?CREW: Yes, sir.HARRIS: Okay.CREW: Yes, ma’am. Thirty seconds of silence, please, for room tone.CREW: Mark.CREW: Cameras are off.WHITAKER: How will you?HARRIS: It’s going to be taxes. It’s going to be literally the economists — I mean, they’re — From each, the spectrum –WHITAKER: But I hear what you’re saying about the economists. This is true.HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah.WHITAKER: But Congress is not the economists. They’re –HARRIS: I know, but–
Watch:
In my humble opinion, the reason they didn’t include that question and answer in what they originally released is not just because Harris sounded awful but also because it made Whitaker sound a little too much like a handler attempting to kick back with her and coach her more so than a reporter trying to do their job in interviewing someone who wanted to be the leader of the free world.
In other words, the release of the more complete versions of the transcript and video makes CBS News, contrary to their claims that they were “not doctored or deceitful,” look worse, not better.
-Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter/X.-
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