CBS News pushed back after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a report suggesting the network “suppressed” a “60 Minutes” segment about Jeffrey Epstein, calling the claim “categorically false.”
“We are proud of our aggressive and extensive reporting on the Epstein scandal,” a spokesperson for CBS said in a statement to media. “That reporting continues. We air pieces when they are ready, and suggesting that an interview is being ‘suppressed’ for any reason is categorically false.”
The network’s response came after Wyden released a 67-page report examining Epstein’s banking practices that claimed former “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had been working on a story about the topic before she was fired from the news program.
One segment of the report was titled, “60 minutes interview is currently being suppressed by CBS News Leadership,” and detailed that Wyden sat for a taped interview with Alfonsi in March.
“The interview was part of a broader segment being prepared by ’60 minutes’ regarding the conduct of Wall Street banks and the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands with regard to Jeffrey Epstein and his associates,” the report stated. “Over the course of the interview, Senator Wyden answered questions related to his
multi-year investigation into transactions financing Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and potential consequences for banks over potentially willful violations of federal anti-money laundering laws.”
The report continued: “However, shortly after the taping of the interview with Senator Wyden, CBS News Leadership led by Bari Weiss made the decision to fire Sharyn Alfonsi. As a result, the interview with Senator Wyden will not be aired and it is unclear whether Bari Weiss and CBS News Leadership will allow the broader segment to ever be aired.”
Alfonsi was fired from “60 Minutes” back in May, months after her “Inside CECOT” story caused tension with editor-in-chief Weiss.
“Over the weekend, my contract with CBS News expired, drawing to a close nearly twenty years with the network, including more than a decade at ’60 Minutes,’” Alfonsi said at the time. “Following an intense editorial dispute over our CECOT story, repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives. The message could not be clearer: my time at ’60 Minutes’ is apparently over.”
“In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like ‘modernization’ and ‘restructuring’ to explain away my departure. Don’t be misled,” she continued. “This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”
Alfonsi wasn’t the only journalist impacted amid the shakeup at “60 Minutes,” as fellow correspondent Cecilia Vega and executive producer Tanya Simon were also terminated from the news magazine. In the wake of the staff changes, Scott Pelley confronted new EP Nick Bilton, resulting in his own termination from “60 Minutes” in June.
