Published 01:01 IST, October 23rd 2020
Trump follows through with threats, releases unedited '60 minutes' interview online
US President Donald Trump has released the full unedited version of his interview with CBS News before the show could be broadcast by the network.
Advertisement
US President Donald Trump has released the full unedited version of his interview with CBS News before the show could be broadcast by the network. On Thursday (local time) Trump tweeted a Facebook link to the entire interview and urged his followers to look at what he called was a biased and rude interview. The interview footage which features Trump and CBS anchor Lesley Stahl shows her pressing the US President on a host of different topics such as his replacement for ‘Obamacare’ which the Republican leader is yet to reveal.
Trump follows through on his earlier threat
Donald Trump also took this opportunity to criticise the moderator of the final US Presidential debate that is due to take place soon on October 22 (local time). As can be seen in the video clip of the interview, Trump repeatedly attacked his Democratic rival Joe Biden and also went after his son based on unverifiable news reports. The US President also accused mainstream media of being "too soft" on Biden.
Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS. Tonight’s anchor, Kristen Welker, is far worse! #MAGA https://t.co/ETDJzMQg8X
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2020
Throughout the course of the interview, Trump continued to criticise Biden and former President Barack Obama by throwing unsubstantiated allegations and when the CBS anchor retorted that her network cannot put forward unverifiable allegations Trump said that she was discrediting herself. The interview itself was off to a tense start with the anchor asking the President “Are you ready for some tough questions?”
Becoming increasingly irate, Trump walked off the interview early and failed to return for an already planned appearance with US Vice President Mike Pence. After the interview, Trump immediately took to Twitter to call the interview “fake and biased”.
After Trump released the full unedited statement, CBS released a statement wherein it stated that the network plans to go ahead with the broadcast of the interview on Sunday, October 25 as scheduled and decried the US President's actions as “unprecedented”. The statement also added that CBS was committed to “providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades”
I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2020
(With AP inputs, Image AP)
01:01 IST, October 23rd 2020