Shortly after the CBS newsmagazine’s Sunday pieces on Greenland and Ukraine, President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on “60 Minutes,” claiming the network was out of control and should “pay a big price” for targeting him.
“The name ‘TRUMP’ is mentioned in a negative and disparaging manner on 60 Minutes almost every week, but this weekend’s ‘BROADCAST’ surpasses them all,” the president stated on his Truth Social platform. He urged Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to punish them to the fullest extent possible “for their unlawful and illegal behavior.”
Due to the way “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last year, Trump is currently suing the network for $20 billion. The newscast disputes the president’s assertion that it was altered to favor Harris. However, there are persistent rumors that the parent corporation of CBS and Trump’s attorneys are negotiating a deal.
As part of a series of investigations into the same issue that also implicate ABC News, NBC, PBS, NPR, and the Walt Disney Company, Carr and the FCC have opened a parallel investigation into CBS News.
Since Trump took office for a second term, “60 Minutes” has been unrelenting in its coverage of his administration, especially journalist Scott Pelley, despite the legal struggle. He went to Ukraine to speak with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of that nation, at the scene of a Russian attack earlier this month that killed nine children.
Zelenskyy encouraged Trump to visit his nation to observe the actions taken, saying in the Sunday interview that he has “100%” hatred for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.
Correspondent Jon Wertheim also covered the sentiments of some Greenlanders on Trump’s ambition to seize power on Sunday.
Trump claimed in his social media post that “60 Minutes” was now “a dishonest Political Operative simply disguised as ‘News,’ and must be responsible for what they have done, and are doing,” rather than a news program.