Former President Donald Trump asked Thursday whether Democrats should be "forced to concede the election" and said CBS should lose its license over the controversy surrounding edits made to Vice President Kamala Harris' answers in her "60 Minutes" interview.
"A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes," Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday. "Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better.
"A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal," he added. "TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference. She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact. An UNPRECEDENTED SCANDAL!!! The Dems got them to do this and should be forced to concede the Election? WOW!"
Trump has also insisted the network apologize after it aired a highly edited version of a question asked of her about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Monday night's broadcast.
Newsmax has reached out to CBS News and the Harris campaign for comment on the controversy. Neither immediately responded.
A clip released online and on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Oct. 6 included a lengthy answer, while the response that ended up airing in the final interview Oct. 7, was edited down to just a few sentences, Variety reported.
In a transcript of the clip airing Oct. 6 to tease the "60 Minutes" interview, interviewer Bill Whitaker asks Harris: "Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?"
Harris responded: "The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel. And when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah presents, Iran, I think that it is without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks.
"Now the work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done which would release the hostages and create a cease-fire. And we're not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders."
Whitaker: "But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening."
Harris: "Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region."
But in the version airing on "60 Minutes," and appearing on CBS News' online transcript of the interview, Whitaker asks about the United States and Netanyahu, and Harris' answer was edited to say: "The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles."
Whitaker responded: "But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening."
Harris then said, according to the clip: "We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end."
Karoline Leavitt, Trump's national press secretary, said Harris' "word salad" was "deceptively edited to lessen Kamala's idiotic response," and called on CBS to release the "full, unedited transcript."
Harris' campaign has distanced itself from the controversy, with an aide for the campaign telling Variety that "we do not control CBS's production decisions," and referred questions to CBS.
CBS said Trump opted out of an interview on the program out of concerns over fact-checking, but Trump spokesman Steven Cheung insisted "there was nothing scheduled or agreed upon" when it came to an appearance.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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