Donald Trump Threatens To Release '60 Minutes’ Interview In Advance
President Donald Trump decided to discontinue an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes. He did not make an appearance for another interview he was slated to tape with Vice President Mike Pence, according to sources familiar with the incident. The president said he might release a printed version of the aforesaid interview, claiming it would show bias by the reporter, Lesley Stahl.
The camera crews were all set at the White House earlier this week, and Trump sat with Stahl for nearly 45 minutes on Tuesday, before unexpectedly ending the interview. According to two sources, the president told the network that they had enough content to use.
Later that day, Trump said Stahl was not wearing a mask, and even tweeted a short clip showing her without one at the White House. A source told CNN that the image he tweeted shows the host with her producers after Trump abruptly ended the interview.
Stahl had not gone back to get her belongings and put her mask back on, the source added. She did not take her face mask off after she entered the White House until the interview started. With Election Day just about two weeks away, Trump has spent this week trying to take jabs at his rival and growing upset at polls showing his campaign trailing Joe Biden in several states.
The shortened interview on 60 Minutes is another representation of Trump's visible irritation as he enters the campaign's concluding days. The Democratic presidential nominee and his running mate Kamala Harris also appeared for an interview on 60 Minutes, and all four are slated to appear in the same program on Sunday.
Biden and Harris did not tape their interviews together, but Trump and Pence were expected to tape the interview together, as they did four years ago, for a walk and talk session. Sources revealed that Trump did not return for the appearance with vice president Pence. The interview is scheduled to air this Sunday, but Trump tweeted that he may release it in advance.
In another tweet, the president accused Stahl of not wearing a mask, a hint that the interview was heated. During his campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump advised his audience to watch what they do to 60 Minutes, noting that they will get a kick out of it.
The president also noted that reporter Stahl would not be happy. Stahl exceeded the time limit she had agreed to with the White House for the interview, a source familiar with the matter said. This angered Trump and he refused to tape the walk-and-talk segment with the reporter, the insider said.