Donald Trump Cuts Short ‘60 Minutes’ Appearance, Threatens To Post Interview Before It Airs

Ted Johnson
·3 min read
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UPDATE, 3:19 PM PT: President Donald Trump blasted 60 Minutes and correspondent Lesley Stahl after he abruptly cut short a planned series of appearances on the show.

His latest tweets suggest that he did not think the interview went well.

Trump wrote on Twitter, “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…

“…Everyone should compare this terrible Electoral Intrusion with the recent interviews of Sleepy Joe Biden!”

The White House has agreed that they were taping the interview for archival purposes only, according to a CBS source.

Trump did a sitdown with Stahl but then bailed out on a planned walk and talk and joint interview with Vice President Mike Pence.

At a rally on Wednesday evening, Trump told supporters, “You have to watch what we are going to do to 60 Minutes. You are going to get such a kick out of it. Lesley Stahl is not going to be happy.”

PREVIOUSLY, 1:58 PM PT: President Donald Trump tweeted out a video of 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl going maskless at the White House, after he cut short a planned appearance on the program.

Although Trump sat for an interview, set to air on Sunday, a source said he left without doing a planned walk and talk and a joint interview with Vice President Mike Pence. CNN first reported on the drama surrounding the appearance.

Trump on Tuesday afternoon tweeted, “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come.”

According to people familiar with the interview, the image is from immediately following the sitdown with Trump, and she had been talking to the CBS team who had all been tested. Stahl had a mask on “leading into the interviews as appropriate.”

Stahl in May disclosed that she had been hospitalized for COVID-19, just as Trump was earlier this month.

The interviews with Trump and Pence are part of a package of stories on 60 Minutes slated for Sunday that looks that the 2020 presidential contenders. Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) will also appear on the episode. Biden taped his interview with Norah O’Donnell on Monday.

The interviews with the presidential and vice presidential contenders have been a tradition for 60 Minutes in the past few cycles. Stahl announced the plans for the segments during Sunday’s broadcast.

Trump was last on 60 Minutes for a sit-down interview with Stahl in 2018, just before the midterm elections.

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