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US President Donald Trump speaks at a Make America Great Again rally as he campaigns in North Carolina on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Politico | Donald Trump posts ‘60 Minutes’ interview he cut short after questions on health care and Governor Gretchen Whitmer

  • On Twitter and Facebook, US president urges viewers to ‘look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS’
  • Video shows Trump saying he is not OK being asked tough questions and sparring with journalist Lesley Stahl over his claims on coronavirus and economy

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Caitlin Oprysko on politico.com on October 22, 2020.

US President Donald Trump followed through on Thursday on his threat to undercut an interview set to air on 60 Minutes this weekend, posting what he said was the uncut version of his contentious conversation.

The move by the president represented an escalation of his fight with the media hours ahead of the final presidential debate, set for Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a tweet and on his Facebook post, the president urged viewers to “look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS”. He claimed that the moderator of Thursday’s debate, NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker, “is far worse!”

The 37-minute video begins with a tense exchange over correspondent Lesley Stahl’s line of questioning, with Stahl asking the president whether he’s prepared for tough questions and Trump instructing her to “just be fair”.

When Stahl notes that the last time she interviewed Trump he told her to “bring it on”, the president responds that “I’m not looking for that” and that he was not OK with being asked tough questions.

Trump’s solo interview remains set to air alongside one with Vice-President Mike Pence, and in conjunction with interviews with his opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris

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But Trump cut his interview short while it was being filmed Tuesday without shooting anything with Pence – news that came to light when the president posted a video of a maskless Stahl in the White House on his Twitter and teased “there is much more to come”.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that “I will soon be giving a first in television history full, unedited preview of the vicious attempted ‘takeout’ interview of me by Lesley Stahl of @60Minutes. Watch her constant interruptions & anger. Compare my full, flowing and 'magnificently brilliant' answers to their ‘Q’s’.”

Once Trump posted the White House's footage of the interview, CBS quickly announced that it would not be deterred from airing its segment with the president.

Journalist Lesley Stahl speaks during an interview in New York in October 2019. Photo: TNS

“The White House’s unprecedented decision to disregard their agreement with CBS News and release their footage will not deter 60 Minutes from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades,” CBS said in a statement of Trump’s move.

The network defended Stahl and its flagship news magazine programme as “widely respected for bringing its hallmark fairness, deep reporting and informative context to viewers each week”.

After their initial exchange to kick off the interview, Stahl proceeded to repeatedly challenge Trump, questioning his assertions that the coronavirus pandemic is nearing its end even though cases are on the rise across much of the country.

Michigan militia members charged over plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer

The 60 Minutes correspondent also pushed the president on his frequent claim that his presidency had yielded the “greatest economy in the history of our country”.

When Stahl peppered Trump with questions about his recent denunciation of his infectious diseases chief as an “idiot,” the lack of safety protocols at his campaign rallies such as requiring face masks and suggested that his pre-pandemic rallies drew larger crowds, Trump complained about Stahl's “negative attitude”.

She also tried to drill down on the Affordable Care Act replacement plan that Trump has promised for years but has not released.

02:47

Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections

Donald Trump continues to downplay severity of Covid-19 as more US officials report infections

When Stahl quoted the president’s own words, a plea for the suburban women abandoning Republicans in droves to “please like me”, Trump bristled at her tone and insisted he was only joking.

“The way you said that is why people think of you and everyone else as fake news,” the president told her. He then said that he “doubts” polls that show him in a hole with suburban women.

Trump cut the interview short not long after Stahl asked him about a recently uncovered plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, whom Trump has repeatedly berated over her state’s coronavirus restrictions. At a rally in Michigan over the weekend, attendees chanted “lock her up” about Whitmer, prompting Trump to pause, smirk and reply “lock 'em all up”.

“You brought up a lot of subjects that were inappropriately brought up. They were inappropriately brought up, right from the beginning,” he told Stahl just before he abruptly ended the interview.

Trump cuts short ‘60 Minutes’ interview after 45 minutes

“Your first statement to me, ‘This is going to be tough questions’. Well I don’t mind that but when you set up the interview you didn’t say that. You said ‘Oh, let’s have a lovely interview.’”

Stahl interjected, asking whether he did not think the president should be “accountable to the American people”, and Trump shoots back that he does not think Biden gets similarly tough questions from the media.

When someone off-camera begins to say that they are ready to bring Pence in, Trump cuts the interview off.

“Well I think we have enough. Really, we have enough of an interview,” he says before telling Stahl that he will see her later and getting up.

Nick Niedzwiadek and Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.

Read Politico’s story.

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