CBS Finally Airs Shelved ’60 Minutes’ ‘Inside CECOT’ Report Despite Trump Admin No-Show | Analysis
After abruptly pulling a “60 Minutes” report on Venezuelan deportees facing tortuous conditions in a notorious El Salvador mega-prison, CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told staff that the story, which had already been legally vetted and widely promoted, “was not ready,” and that “we need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.”
On Sunday night, the segment apparently was ready in Weiss’ eyes as U.S. viewers got to watch Sharyn Alfonsi’s powerful report, which included first-person accounts of men swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
What “60 Minutes” viewers didn’t get to see were any Trump officials appear on camera.
“Since November, ‘60 Minutes’ has made several attempts to interview key Trump administration officials on camera about our story,” Alfonsi said in new intro. “They declined our requests.”
Alfonsi also referenced the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the new intro before launching into the piece “Inside CECOT,” which otherwise appeared unchanged from the version originally set to air on Dec. 21. Since Weiss made her decision so late in the process, the episode had already been distributed to a Canadian network that airs “60 Minutes” and Alfonsi’s shelved story spread online.
In a new post-script, Alfronsi mentioned having requested complete records and criminal backgrounds for all 252 Venezuelan men sent to CECOT, but the Department of Homeland Security declined. She included some of the DHS’s response and additional claims; she also read from a White House statement, and noted how the responses are published in full on CBS News’ site. But no official sat down for an interview.
“CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the ’60 Minutes’ CECOT piece as soon as it was ready,” a spokesperson told TheWrap. “Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News’ independence and the power of our storytelling.”
Weiss’s four-month tenure at CBS News has been turbulent, with her handling of the “60 Minutes” segment alarming staff and critics that she may be pulling punches with the Trump administration — and also intensifying concerns that she’s too inexperienced for the job. Despite never working in TV news, Paramount chief David Ellison appointed Weiss to the newly created editor-in-chief role in October after CBS-parent company acquired Weiss’s right-leaning site, The Free Press.
Last month, Alfonsi suggested that Weiss made a “political” decision in initially holding the piece, noting that they had made requests for comment to the Department of Homeland security and other government entities.
“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story,” Alfonsi wrote to colleagues at the time. “If the standard for airing a story is that ‘the government must agree to be interviewed,’ then the government effectively gains control over the ’60 Minutes’ broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.”
Discussions about the fate of the story continued behind-the-scenes. TheWrap reported earlier this month that Weiss met with “60 Minutes” editors in an effort to advance the story, indicating plans to eventually run it. “If it ends up dead, it’s not dead now,” a source said. “That’s not the conversation that’s happening now.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported earlier Sunday that Alfonsi was tasked on Thursday with interviewing a Trump official, such as Kristi Noem or Tom Homan, and that “Weiss said she would personally book an interview.” Stelter noted that “‘60 Minutes’ producers flew to DC from New York, and Alfonsi flew in from Texas. But the promised interview did not materialize. Everyone went home empty-handed.”
Despite running tonight’s story, Weiss’ oversight of “60 Minutes” will surely continue to be scrutinized, along with her broader vision for CBS News. The network is perceived as taking a more Trumpy turn in the Weiss era, complete with jokes at the Golden Globes. New “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil has come under withering criticism during his rocky rollout.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Guardian reported on “huge internal concern” over CBS citing two anonymous “US officials” on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good “suffered internal bleeding to the torso” after the incident, a claim
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sent Dokoupil and CBS staffers a message from President Donald Trump last week’s interview on the newscast: “He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’ adding: ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”
Paramount settled with Trump $16 million when he sued the network over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes.” Despite CBS initially saying Trump’s suit was “completely without merit,” Paramount settled the case as it sought government approval to merge with Skydance
In the end, Alfonsi’s “60 Minutes” piece got significant attention, with reams of coverage around the segment getting yanked – along with finally airing. It remains to be seen whether this particular episode gets typically strong ratings. Alfonsi’s story was originally scheduled for an episode following an NFL game on CBS. Instead Sunday’s “60 Minutes” aired against an NFL playoff game on rival NBC.
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