Donald Trump sat down with “60 Minutes” again and he seemed well aware the interview wouldn’t air in full. At times he joked that Norah O’Donnell didn’t need to use certain clips, and he even told her not to put some moments on TV because he didn’t want to “embarrass” her. Still, CBS put roughly a third of the conversation on broadcast, uploaded more to YouTube, and published a full transcript online.
The interview felt like a tightly edited back-and-forth. O’Donnell pressed on a lot of hot-button topics: rising costs for households, foreign flashpoints, the possibility of U.S. action in Venezuela, questions about immigration policy, and whether the military might be used in U.S. cities. Trump often steered answers back to familiar talking points blaming his predecessor for economic pain, promising lower gas prices and health-care fixes, and accusing Democrats of blocking him. At one point, when asked about people living paycheck to paycheck, Trump shrugged and pointed to Biden.
There were a few moments that zipped around social media. Trump said immigration raids “haven’t gone far enough,” and when asked about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao whom Trump pardoned recently he replied, “I don’t know who he is.” Those clips got the lion’s share of attention online.
This sit-down also reopened an old chapter: it came exactly one year after Trump sued “60 Minutes” over its pre-election interview with Kamala Harris a suit most legal experts called frivolous. That case ended in a settlement: Paramount paid $16 million to a future Trump presidential library, and a short time later the company’s merger with Skydance Media was approved. That takeover put David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, in charge of CBS, and Trump has repeatedly praised the new ownership. During the interview he complimented the Ellisons and even mentioned the hiring of Bari Weiss to a senior role at CBS, saying he hoped the network would be “fairer.”
Not everyone loved the interview style. Some critics said O’Donnell didn’t interrupt enough or correct false claims as they came up. Others pointed out the show did disclose the settlement up front and reminded viewers the deal didn’t include an apology or admission of wrongdoing.
All told, the program gave viewers a mix: pointed questions, a president sticking to familiar lines, a few viral soundbites, and the shadow of last year’s legal fight over how Trump is portrayed on television.
