CBS News said the White House violated an agreement and posted President Donald Trump's 60 Minutes interview ahead of its actual air date, which was Sunday. The network released a statement noting that it will still provide full, fair and contextual reporting despite the White House releasing the footage.
Presidents have participated in 60 Minutes interviews for decades, CBS News noted in its statement. Trump posted the after said footage days after threatening to share it online and slamming correspondent Lesley Stahl, who interviewed the president at the White House Tuesday. He also posted Stahl's interview with Vice President Mike Pence.
According to CBS News, the White House said it was recording the interview alongside the network to use the footage for archival purposes only. The White House continues to remain mum about these allegations. In the Facebook post, the president claimed that the footage showed "bias, hatred and rudeness" on the interviewer's part.
The footage, however, does not show such thing. It shows Stahl asking firm questions about a slew of topics, including the coronavirus pandemic. In its recently released statement, CBS News pointed out that 60 Minutes is known and respected for bringing its characteristic fairness, deep reporting, coupled with informative context to its viewers each week, CNN reported.
The network noted in its statement that there aren't many journalists who possess the presidential interview experience that Stahl has shown over her years as one of America's top-ranking correspondents. Moreover, CBS News also said it was looking forward to its viewers seeing Stahl interview Trump for the third time, as well as Pence this weekend.
Stahl kicked off the interview asking Trump if he was ready to answer some tough questions, but the president replied that he only wants her to be fair. Stahl then reconfirms with Trump if he was okay with some questions, and he replied, saying no, he wasn't. Trump ended up accusing the interviewer of being bias and negative with her probing.
Trump grew even more frustrated towards the end of the interview, accusing Stahl of asking him tougher questions than his rival Joe Biden. Moreover, the POTUS also told the interviewer that starting the interview by asking if he was okay with tough questions wasn't the right way to talk.
Towards the end of the video, a person off-camera tells Trump that Pence would be ready for a joint interview with him that will be conducted by Stahl once the solo interview was over. Trump responded by saying he thinks they have had enough of an interview and insisted on leaving right away.