Mark Swanson huffed in an Oct. 8 Newsmax article:
The Trump presidential campaign on Tuesday called on CBS News to release the unedited transcript of Kamala Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes,” which edited out the Democrat’s “epic word salad” answer about Israel, the New York Post reported.
“60 Minutes” on Sunday night teased a clip with Harris about the United States’ lack of influence over ally Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy served up more pro-Trump stenography in an article the next day:
Former President Donald Trump says Vice President Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview was “the very definition of FAKE NEWS!
Harris has begun sitting for select interviews after having been widely criticized for avoiding reporters’ questions since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. The CBS “60 Minutes” interview was broadcast Monday night.
Wednesday on Truth Social, Trump accused the “60 Minutes” producers of editing the interview in a way that made Harris “more presidential,” and he demanded an apology.
“I’ve never seen this before, but the producers of 60 Minutes sliced and diced (‘cut and pasted’) Lyin’ Kamala’s answers to questions, which were virtually incoherent, over and over again, some by as many as four times in a single sentence or thought, all in an effort, possibly illegal as part of the ‘News Division,’ which must be licensed, to make her look ‘more presidential,’ or a least, better, Trump posted.
Kate McManus tried to build things up further with anonymous sources in an Oct. 10 article:
Former CBS News employees are calling for an independent investigation into “60 Minutes” as controversy brews over its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, the New York Post reported.
The program has been accused of editing Harris’ response to a question about Israel, with discrepancies between the broadcast version and a promotional clip that appeared on “Face the Nation” the previous day.
Newsmax continued to hype the story further, with lots of Trump stenograhy:
- Trump: Harris ’60 Minutes’ Cover Up ‘Fake News Scam’
- Trump on CBS Complaint: Network Should ‘Lose Its License’
- Trump Considers Suing CBS News Over Harris Interview
- Trump: ‘Fake News Trying to Protect’ VP Harris
Newsmax did eventually get around to running an Oct. 21 article quoting CBS officials calling Trump’s attacks false.
But this is all performative hypocrisy. We’ve documented how Newsmax was caught editing interviews under orders from CEO Christopher Ruddy. Panelists’ and guests’ views on things such as Ukraine, Qatar (which has invested in Newsmax) and COVID vaccines tend to get censored if they run afoul of Ruddy’s personal agenda on such things.
So it appears Newsmax is mad (on Trump’s behalf, of course) for doing things Newsmax itself does. Interesting, huh?