Trump mocks – In an interview released hours after CBS fired Scott Pelley, President Donald Trump ridiculed the ex-60 Minutes correspondent as a “stiff,” attacked his 2023 interview with Joe Biden, and escalated criticism to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos over a $16
President Donald Trump didn’t sound like a man who planned to mourn Scott Pelley. In a podcast interview released Wednesday. Trump mocked the newly fired CBS correspondent. calling him a “stiff” and saying he was “afraid.” He piled on familiar grievances about the media. describing Pelley as part of “a gang of stupid. crooked people that don’t care about our country.”.
The timing was sharp: Trump’s comments landed hours after CBS fired Pelley. During the interview. Trump’s attention kept swinging back to Pelley’s high-profile work on 60 Minutes—especially a 2023 interview with ex-President Joe Biden that Pelley did not end up defending publicly in the way Trump demanded.
Trump’s criticism began when the New York Post reporter Miranda Devine brought up Pelley’s 2023 60 Minutes interview with Biden. Devine said Pelley “covered up the edits” to make Biden look sharper than he actually was in the interview. Trump jumped in, saying Pelley “has his own problems” and calling him “terrible.”.
Then Trump went further: he said he watched the interview and called it “a joke.” He also seemed to suggest Pelley was already in shaky territory at CBS, folding the personal insult into a larger narrative about corporate press and political spin.
Trump didn’t stop there. He moved to ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, saying ABC News had to pay him $16 million “because he lied about me”—referring to Stephanopoulos repeatedly saying Trump was found “liable for rape” on air.
Trump disputed the framing of what he was ordered to pay for. He said, “In fact, Trump was found liable for sexual abuse in civil court, which carries a different definition in New York.” He added that when ABC News was told to retract the statements, it did not.
“He said the wrong thing,” Trump said. “We said, ‘Take it back.’ They wouldn’t take it back. And so he was forced to pay $16 million.”
As for why Pelley was out, CBS’s internal dispute was part of the story even before Trump stepped into it. CBS fired Pelley on the morning before Trump’s podcast interview was released—after 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton dismissed the 68-year-old correspondent.
Bilton’s decision followed what Pelley did during a meeting with staff. The termination described a confrontation where Pelley went on a diatribe against his new boss and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in front of colleagues.
Pelley, in that outburst, accused Weiss of “murdering” 60 Minutes.
Bilton cited the incident in the termination letter. writing: “Yesterday. you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me. my qualifications. and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. ” Bilton wrote. Bilton continued: “Yesterday’s performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil. private conversation demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show. or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress.”.
Donald Trump Scott Pelley 60 Minutes CBS Nick Bilton Bari Weiss Joe Biden Miranda Devine George Stephanopoulos ABC News $16 million rape liability sexual abuse civil court
CBS really fired him over politics? sure…
Trump called him stiff and afraid like that’s gonna change anything lol. Also who cares about that Biden interview, it was edited or whatever so everyone’s just doing PR anyway.