One of the few “normal” things in an American presidential election cycle is that 60 Minutes always gives the two candidates equal time in two one-on-one interviews. Well, not anymore. 60 Minutes offered Donald Trump a sit-down interview, and one was scheduled… and then Trump pulled out just hours before the VP debate, hoping that the story would get buried. It’s all part and parcel of the big story no one in the media wants to talk about: Donald Trump’s campaign doesn’t trust him to do a mainstream interview. They know he’ll lie or sound demented or he’ll make an ass out of himself. So they pulled the planned interview. Now Kamala Harris is the only one getting a huge platform on 60 Minutes.
Former President Donald Trump has backed out of a previously scheduled interview with “60 Minutes,” the most-watched newsmagazine in the United States, CBS News said Tuesday evening. CBS disclosed Trump’s change of plans a few hours before the network hosts a vice-presidential debate between Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, and Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“For over half a century, 60 Minutes has invited the Democratic and Republican tickets to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls,” the network said in a statement. “This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes. After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate.” The network was notified earlier Tuesday, throwing a wrench into its programming plans, since the Harris and Trump interviews were supposed to air on a special Monday night edition of “60 Minutes” next week.
With no additional debates scheduled between Trump and Harris, the traditional “60 Minutes” sit-down was one of the final times before the November election for voters to see both candidates on a major television program. CBS said the primetime special will still go forward with an interview with Harris. Correspondent Bill Whitaker is slated to follow Harris on the campaign trail and interview her later this week.
Contrary to the Trump camp’s assertion that no interview was scheduled, two sources with knowledge of the matter said Pelley was slated to sit down with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club on Thursday and attend Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. Asked by CNN if there was still a chance Trump might sit for the interview, Cheung said, “Now that they’ve lied about the interaction, they just f**ked themselves.”
The Harris campaign immediately slammed Trump over the decision. “Afraid of the debate stage. Afraid of 60 minutes. And his campaign team – after the last three days of increasingly unhinged and unstable ranting at his rallies – is clearly afraid of exposing him beyond comfortable confines,” said Harris senior adviser David Plouffe.
“The last three days of increasingly unhinged and unstable ranting at his rallies…” Exactly. Trump is not a well man. He is getting worse and worse and making less sense. His own campaign is terrified of sending him into an environment they can’t control. Also: he’s scheduled to go back to Butler, Pennsylvania? Oh my god. My guess is that Trump and his people have some kind of October Surprise scheduled for this weekend and they didn’t want 60 Minutes’ cameras to catch them organizing it.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum on Monday, July 15, 2024. This is Trumps first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance Republican of Ohio as his Vice Presidential running mate. Copyright: xAnnabellexGordonx/,Image: 890100277, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Annabelle Gordon / CNP /MediaPunch / Avalon
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum on Monday, July 15, 2024. This is Trumps first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance Republican of Ohio as his Vice Presidential running mate. Copyright: xAnnabellexGordonx/,Image: 890100421, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Annabelle Gordon / CNP /MediaPunch / Avalon
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- Former US President Donald J Trump makes an early appearance on the first night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum on Monday, July 15, 2024. This is Trumps first appearance since a rally in Pennsylvania, where he sustained injuries from an alleged bullet grazing his ear. Trump also named United States Senator JD Vance Republican of Ohio as his Vice Presidential running mate. Copyright: xAnnabellexGordonx/,Image: 890103425, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Annabelle Gordon / CNP /MediaPunch / Avalon
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- Former President Donald J. Trump appears in court for his arraignment, in New York City. According to CNN: Former President Donald Trump personally pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in a Manhattan court after hearing charges against him. The charges stem from an investigation into a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York, New York, United States When: 04 Apr 2023 Credit: POOL via CNP/startraksphoto.com
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- Donald Trump Addresses the Media During Financial Fraud Trial Featuring: Donald Trump Where: New York, New York, United States When: 04 Oct 2023 Credit: Janet Mayer/startraksphoto.com
The Harris Walz campaign is coming for him for this. Trust the US media will cook him; bit right now it’s still roasting Vance for his debate answers.
NYTimes endorsed Harris and yet they’re still going out of their way to protect and sane wash Trump. I do not trust the American media – they’re getting more and more like the British media every day
It’s obvious the strategy is to hide him from debates/interviews so he can try to win. Everytime he does a rally he looks terrible/exhausted. I agree with Biden, he would have beat him. The fact that white people seemed to be running away from Harris towards Trump/CareBear KKK is so frustrating. Latest polls show her ahead in the swing states by just 1 or 2 points, except GA.
I am so very fed up with Trump and his total BS.
Running for re-election, He should be in jail for treason. Period.
Even Trump must realize he can’t get thru a 60 minute interview w/o sounding deranged.
He was in Wisconsin yesterday and he looked visibly unwell, even more so than usual. He was leaning into the podium and barely unable to read the talking points given to him. He was stumbling and slurred a bit. He is unwell and they know it.
Volunteer if you can guys. Please help if you can.
Do you mean the teleprompter, that device that he *swore* that he would never need or use? Must have gone into the same idea bin as “everyone will be sick of winning” and “I won’t golf my presidency away”.
I repeat my earlier assertion: everytime that he bloviates about what he’s going to do, Kam and Coach should simply respond “Then why DIDN’T you do all that when you had the time and power?”
I mean, I can’t really blame his campaign staff on this – I wouldn’t want Trump anywhere near a microphone or a camera these days, either! It’s too risky. He has never had the discipline to stay on message, but it’s gotten even more unhinged as he continues to surround himself only with MAGA loyalists who flatter him and encourage him to go further down the conspiracy rabbit holes. He’s gotten weirder and weirder, and I can barely follow some of the theories and references he’s spewing these days. Better not to show that to any undecided or unmotivated voters!
After watching Vance lie or just avoid answering questions at last night’s VP debate with such ease, my biggest fear is that he is even more dangerous than the Orange Clown. He comes off as polished and smart, while under the surface there is nothing but blind ambition and a thirst for power that he’ll say or do anything to get. It’s like “The Omen”s Damien Thorn all grown up……..
He’s way more dangerous, because he’s not stupid and deteriorating like trump is. Vance wants the Handmaid’s Tale, despite his lies last night, and we need to prevent him from ever getting any more power than he already has.
He masked his crazy. I think he’s more dangerous than Trump.
Yeah I think the 60 Minutes thing is like the debate situation. A direct comparison with Harris will not be good for Donald in any way, shape or form. Scott Pelley is not one of his usual sycophant type of interviewers and so another potentially danger to him and the campaign.
I’ve heard people posit online that the no fact checking concession for the VP debate was a part of the Trump’s interview negotiations. Once the debate started, he didn’t have to follow through with the interview. There is no evidence for that, as far as I know. But it’s an interesting thought.
VP Harris in Las Vegas Sunday night: “I’m all in even though my opponent is ready to fold.”
I just hope Trump doesn’t die before the election. Then, we would probably have to deal with the much smoother Vance.
I hope the fact that he pulled out of a major interview overshadows the VP debate, tbh. Vance spewed his hateful bullshit all night and didn’t answer any questions, but he was slick and pulled off the talent of making his nonsense sound intelligent just with his affect. Very much a political talent. He was able to tamp down on how much of an off-putting creep he is in a real life setting. Tim Walz didn’t do badly by any means, but “undecided” voters who have been too embarrassed to admit they want to vote for Trump probably breathed a sigh of relief and felt more confident about voting R because Vance performed well.
I’m not surprised, he’s a chicken, and his campaign knows he’s off the rails more than usual. I hope this is good for Kamala Harris, it basically gives her a big platform. I’m sure there will be tough questions, as there should be, which she can handle, and 60 minutes is one of the few quality journalism outlets around still.
I watched the whole debate last night, Vance is much smart and more polished than trump, and lied through his teeth on almost every topic, in stark contrast to things he is on video saying himself – especially about women’s rights and healthcare, it was clear he was coached to really soften his extreme ideas to seem more palatable. I was worried through most of it, though I think Walz had a great, strong, and incredibly important point when he asked if he’d follow the law or follow trump, and why Pence wasn’t on the stage anymore. Vance dodged it very obviously, and Walz called him out on the “very telling non-answer” which I hope scared the shit out of anyone thinking Vance might be OK.
oh if he thought it would be buried as usual the Trump team is wrong. 60 minutes had it posted all over social media like Tik Tok. Trump dropped out. He looks so foolish right now.
They can try and hide his crazy unhinged Project 2025 views all they want. But people know who he is.
“Cheung said, ‘Now that they’ve lied about the interaction, they just f**ked themselves.'”
Amazing that this comment came from a presidential campaign spokesperson about a network that had offered to give their candidate a huge & free platform. Not only Is he trying to cover up his own lies, the comment is just so ugly & crude.
Does anyone else sometimes feel like he’s over this a little?
Frankly, I think they’re worried about Trump saying things that shouldn’t be said. I keep thinking that his cognitive abilities are deteriorating quickly and it would be likely that he would talk about the money he’s made and how. Especially, if documents are involved … or his interactions with certain world leaders.
Lort. He is just such a coward. It never ceases to amaze me how the magas/bots always come to his defense and justify unstable behavior that no other candidate has ever gotten away with before in the history of the country. He cannot handle anyone who fact checks his lying tangerine painted ass. Icky. Ick. Ick. Vote BLUE and rid the country of this idiot and his minions.