Trump Goes On Unhinged Rant, Calls For CBS Show, 60 Minutes To Be ‘Immediately Terminated’

CBS News and its flagship program, 60 Minutes, have been part of many controversies. In the 1950s, before 60 Minutes existed, Edward R. Murrow tussled with Sen. Joseph McCarthy. In the 1990s, their report about a Big Tobacco whistleblower led to the Brown and Williamson tobacco company leaning on CBS’ management, events later told in the movie The Insider. In 2004, Dan Rather went to air with documents about President George W. Bush’s National Guard service, which turned out to be forgeries, ending Rather’s career at CBS.

However, in none of those situations did any powerful person, much less the president of the United States, call for the “end” of CBS News or 60 Minutes. Donald Trump did both of those things late at night on Wednesday.

Trump sued CBS News last year, claiming that they had deceptively edited an interview with his opponent, Kamala Harris. This week, under pressure from the FCC, CBS released raw transcripts and video footage from the interview, the same day, they handed over the same material to the government. CBS is also said to be under pressure from its corporate parent, Paramount to settle the suit, especially considering that Paramount has a pending merger before the government- something that CBS News is reportedly “irate” about.

“In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews — for time, space or clarity,” the CBS News producers who worked on the segment said, per the Los Angeles Times. “In making these edits, 60 Minutes is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public — all while working within the constraints of broadcast television.”

“CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before. They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election-changing answers to questions and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview,” Trump said on Truth Social. “CBS should lose its license, and the cheaters at 60 Minutes should all be thrown out, and this disreputable “NEWS” show should be immediately terminated.”

A sitting president demanding that a news outlet lose its license would appear unprecedented in history.