House Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to CBS News on Wednesday claiming President Donald Trump wielded “improper influence” over the editing of his interview with “60 Minutes” last month.
In the letter to the network’s ombudsman, Kenneth R. Weinstein, Raskin asked him to investigate a “new and stunning intrusion on editorial independence” by Trump after the network aired an edited version of its Nov. 2 interview with him. The aired portion of the interview ran for 28 minutes, while an extended version posted on YouTube ran for 73 minutes — though Trump sat down with correspondent Norah O’Donnell for 90 minutes.
“Trump is now using government power to impose a regime of editorial control and censorship on CBS,” Raskin said in a statement. “He used bogus claims of private bias against Trump at CBS to install a system of public censorship for Trump at CBS. He wants to rule American media the way Putin rules Russian media.”
CBS News and Paramount, its parent company, did not respond to immediate requests for comment. The Hill first reported the letter.
Raskin expressed his concern with how Trump appeared to be “exercising direct control over CBS’s editorial decisions, destroying CBS’s ‘journalistic integrity’ while violating its right to be free from governmental coercion and manipulation,” according to the letter.
The network received criticism for not airing O’Donnell’s questioning of Trump over his pardoning of Binance crypto exchange founder Changpeng Zhao. Trump said he didn’t know who Zhao was and that his sons were “involved in crypto much more” than him after O’Donnell asked about his family’s growing crypto wealth.
Raskin on Wednesday cited Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News last year over how it edited a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which Paramount settled for $16 million as it sought federal approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its merger with David Ellison’s Skydance. Ellison promised the network would appoint an ombudsman upon the merger’s approval, while “60 Minutes” promised to release the full transcript of interviews with presidents or presidential candidates.
“And now, it appears President Trump has successfully coerced CBS into corruptly and misleadingly editing his own ’60 Minutes’ interview,” Raskin wrote. “Mr. Weinstein, this is your opportunity to silence your critics and prove that you will stand up for ‘journalistic integrity’ by conducting a thorough and transparent investigation into this new and stunning intrusion on editorial independence.”
Raskin offered examples of Trump asking the network throughout his interview with O’Donnell not to air certain parts of the interview, some of which it did not include in its broadcasts. He asked Weinstein to provide written explanations on what editorial standards he applies when reviewing complaints about CBS News’ content, his assessments of the interview and all “documents, communications, and editorial guidance provided to ’60 Minutes’
producers regarding the Trump interview,” including any potential communications from Trump, by Dec. 17. Raskin also asked Weinstein to arrange a briefing with the committee on the interview.
“It is one thing for CBS to make independent editorial decisions
protected by the First Amendment,” Raskin wrote. “It is quite another to make edits at the President’s demand out of fear of retribution. The double standard here undermines public trust and demonstrates how Paramount’s capitulation has compromised CBS News’s independence. The American people deserve to know whether their news is shaped by journalistic judgment or by Donald Trump.”
