Former President Trump pulled out of the “60 Minutes” interview that was scheduled to run next week, CBS News said Tuesday.
According to CBS News, the GOP presidential nominee and his political rival, Vice President Harris, each agreed to sit down for interviews as part of the show’s election special set to air on Monday at 8 p.m. EST.
The ex-president was set to be interviewed by anchor Scott Pelley, while Harris was set to speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker, the network said, adding that the Trump campaign “decided not to participate” and that Pelley would address the development Monday.
“Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned,” the network said in a Tuesday statement. “Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on 60 Minutes stands.”
A source familiar with the arrangement between the network and the campaign told The Hill that Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first to accept the “60 Minutes” request for an interview. The agreement was that each White House candidate would get equal time — half of the broadcast.
The source said that a Trump spokesperson notified “60 Minutes” on Tuesday that the ex-president would not sit for an interview.
The Trump campaign fired back at the network, arguing that nothing was “ever scheduled or locked in.”
“Fake News. 60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said Tuesday in a post on the social platform X. “There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in.”
“They also insisted on doing live fact-checking, which is unprecedented,” he added.
Trump has been at odds with the news program. In 2020, both the former president and then-candidate Joe Biden sat down for interviews with “60 Minutes.” Trump ended his interview with CBS News veteran Lesley Stahl early, with his former chief of staff Mark Meadows later slamming Stahl as an “opinion journalist.”
CBS News said that Harris’s vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is expected to participate in the “60 Minutes” interview.
