Trump backs out of "60 Minutes" election special; Kamala Harris to be interviewed
Updated on: October 1, 2024 / 9:57 PM EDT
A "60 Minutes" candidate hour will feature only Vice President Kamala Harris after former PresidentDonald Trump, who'd previously agreed to be on the show, decided not to participate in the Monday, Oct. 7 special.
"For over half a century, '60 Minutes' has invited the Democratic and Republican tickets to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls," "60 Minutes" said in a statement. "This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes.Vice President Harris will speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker. After initially accepting 60 Minutes' request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump's campaign has decided not to participate. Pelley will address this Monday evening. Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned. Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on 60 Minutes stands."
Harris and Trump only debated each other once and have no other debates planned before the Nov. 5 election.
Leading up to the candidate hour, Trump, through campaign spokespeople, was the first candidate to accept the "60 Minutes" request to be interviewed for the special, according to CBS News. It had been agreed that both candidates would receive equal time during the broadcast. "60 Minutes" will uphold its agreement with Harris and interviews are scheduled on the campaign trail this week.
Trump last sat down with 60 Minutes in 2020. He walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident on Tuesday night at a Milwaukee press conference when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 "60 Minutes" election special.
"Well, right now, I went to - they came to me and would like me to do an interview, but first I want to get an apology, because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they challenged me on the computer," Trump said. "They said the 'laptop from hell' was from Russia, and I said it wasn't from Russia.It was from Hunter, and I never got an apology, so I'm sort of waiting. I'd love to do '60 Minutes.' I do everything. I mean, I'd do you right now, right? And you're tougher than '60 Minutes,' frankly. The 'laptop from hell' was from Hunter. It wasn't from So I haven't gotten if you remember Lesley Stahl, we got into a little bit of an argument on the camera, talking about that and other things.And you know, they really owed me an apology. I'll tell you, David Muir. How about David Muir, when he said that crime went down, and then the following day they released the numbers from the Justice Department that crime went up 45%.Where's my apology? They should apologize. They were wrong on everything. So I'd like to get an apology. So I've asked them for an apology."
The Republican nominee for president emphasized that he felt he was owed an apology from "60 Minutes."
"Let's see if they do it. I wouldn't mind doing 60," Trump continued. "I've done '60 Minutes' a lot. I did '60 Minutes' twice with Mike Wallace, the great Mike Wallace, he was great. His son is from a different ballpark. His son doesn't have– I said, you want to be like your father? Just don't have the talent."
In a statement, Trump campaign communications directorSteven Cheung said that Trump's team had not agreed to an interview.
"Fake News," Cheung said in a post on X. "60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden's laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented."
Harris is expected to discuss a wide-range of topics, including the economy, immigration, and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel.
The vice president previously sat down with Whitaker last year. She also was interviewed by Norah O'Donnell, "CBS Evening News" anchor and "60 Minutes" contributing correspondent, in 2020.
Trump previously sat down with "60 Minutes'" Mike Wallace in 1985, Pelley in 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, first in July of that year and then again in November of 2016. He also spoke with Stahl again in 2018 and 2020.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance were also invited to participate in the Oct. 7 broadcast. The pair are set to debate each other Tuesday at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. O'Donnell will moderate the debate along with "Face the Nation" moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-election-special-harris-trump-oct-7/