The Federal Communications Commission, America’s top broadcast regulator, asked CBS to revoke its license for broadcasting edited responses from former President Donald Trump’s prime-time interview with Kamala Harris. , blamed Donald Trump.
He called the network a “threat to democracy” and also targeted other broadcasters for having their licenses revoked.
In a blistering attack that seems to portend a worsening of press freedom in the United States if he returns to the White House, President Trump called the network a “huge It was accused of being a “fake news scam.” It was shorter and snappier than the version conveyed in the trailer.
President Trump claimed the contrasting answers prove that CBS and Democrats are colluding to commit “election interference” in next month’s presidential election, calling both “a threat to democracy.” He said there is.
His rant was condemned as a “free speech threat” by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who said a candidate’s broadcast license could not be revoked just because he disliked the press. said.
Asked on Monday’s broadcast by interviewer Bill Whitaker whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would heed U.S. advice on Gaza, Harris replied: “Yes. Please be aware of the need to end this war. ”
Right-wing critics on social media said the trailer contained more complex answers, branding them “word salad” and pointing out that the vice president’s media statements are often criticized.
In the trailer version, Harris responds to the same prompt from Whitaker: We’re doing a lot of work, including advocating for what needs to happen in this region. ”
Both parts were part of Harris’ lengthy commentary on support for Israel while trying to influence the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed. . The answer lies in the beginning of an interview broadcast to commemorate the one-year anniversary of last October’s Hamas attack on Israel, in which approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 were taken hostage. Ta.
Neither CBS nor the Harris campaign has commented on the controversy, but the differing responses appear to be part of the standard editorial process not uncommon at 60 Minutes.
But Trump used the disagreement on his Truth Social platform to make Harris appear more consistent, thereby claiming there was a conspiracy to sway next month’s election.
“Giant fake news scam by CBS and 60 Minutes,” he wrote. “Her real answer was crazy or stupid, so they replaced it with another answer to actually save her, or at least make her look better. Fake News Scam. Completely It’s illegal. Please revoke the CBS license. It’s election interference.”
He returned to the theme a few hours later with two more posts. “60 Minutes is a major part of CBS’s news organization and just committed the largest fraud in broadcast history,” he wrote. “CBS should be stripped of their license and like all other broadcast licenses, it should be bid to the highest bidder, because they are just as corrupt as CBS and probably Because it’s worse than that!”
After a few minutes, he added: “For me, 60 Minutes does the exact opposite. They take everything I say, realize how great it is, and take it away. So with Kamala they add it and say, ‘TRUMP.’ Let’s delete it. Like the Democratic Party, they are a threat to democracy! ”
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The latter comment appears to be a roundabout reference to Trump’s pre-agreed withdrawal from interviews on the program, which has aired pre-election interviews with presidential candidates for more than half a century.
During Harris’ broadcast segment, Scott Perry, who was scheduled to interview Trump, told viewers that he was unhappy that the former president’s campaign staff would be fact-checked and demanded an apology for his unfair remarks. He said that he had given a “transitional explanation” regarding the cancellation. A controversial interview he gave on the show before the 2020 election.
It is not unprecedented for President Trump to seek to revoke a broadcast station’s license. He made a similar request to ABC last month after it hosted a debate with Harris that was seen as a victory for the vice president. Mr. Trump and his allies complained of unfair treatment, claiming that the debate moderators failed to fact-check Ms. Harris, even though they did not subject her to similar scrutiny.
Similar threats were made during his presidency, frequently denouncing the media as “enemies of the people” and calling for the imprisonment of journalists who refused to disclose their sources.
But FCC Chairman Rosenworcel said the latest threats should not be ignored, calling them an attack on the First Amendment’s right to free speech.
“The former president’s repeated attacks on broadcasters may be familiar by now, but these threats to free speech are serious and should not be ignored,” she told The Hill.
“The First Amendment is the foundation of our democracy. I have no intention of canceling it.”
