Harris campaign distances itself from ’60 Minutes’ edit: ‘We do not control CBS's production decisions’
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign is distancing itself from CBS airing two different answers to the same question in its "60 Minutes" interview with the Democratic nominee.
CBS is facing calls to release an unedited copy of the Harris interview after the network aired a lengthy response the vice president gave to a "60 Minutes" correspondent about Israel to promote its lengthy sit-down. Harris’ meandering answer that first aired on the Sunday show "Face the Nation" didn’t make the version that aired on a special Monday edition of "60 Minutes." A shorter, more focused answer to the same question was shown instead.
The Harris campaign insists it had nothing to do with the edit. It's common for networks to edit answers in news packages for time. The fact that two entirely different responses to the same question aired on consecutive days caused some confusion, although it could have been two portions of the one long response to Whitaker's question.
"We do not control CBS's production decisions and refer questions to CBS," a Harris campaign aide told Fox News Digital.
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The ordeal started when viewers noticed that CBS aired different answers from Harris when "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the United States.
"Well Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region," Harris responded in the "Face the Nation" version that aired on Sunday.
Conservatives mocked her answer, referring to it as a "word salad" and suggesting it was a key example of why Harris rarely sits down for tough interviews.
CBS '60 MINUTES' AIRS TWO DIFFERENT ANSWERS FROM VP HARRIS TO THE SAME QUESTION
But when CBS aired the fuller interview on Monday night, which addressed numerous topics, and aired the same question about Netanyahu from Whitaker, it omitted Harris' answer shown on Sunday entirely and appeared to air a different part of her larger response.
"We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end," Harris said in the primetime CBS special.
CBS has posted both interview clips on its YouTube channel.
The Trump campaign called for CBS to release the full interview unedited on Tuesday.
"On Sunday, 60 Minutes teased Kamala's highly-anticipated sit-down interview with one of her worst word salads to date, which received significant criticism on social media. During the full interview on Monday evening, the word salad was deceptively edited to lessen Kamala's idiotic response," Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala's full word salad, and what else did they choose not to air? The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala's sit-down interview. We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?"