Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is calling on CBS News to release the complete unedited video of Vice President Kamala Harris’s appearance on “60 Minutes,” citing a notable discrepancy that suggests the interview was misleadingly edited to favor Harris.
The controversial moment arose during host Bill Whitaker’s discussion with Harris about the U.S. financial support for Israel amid its conflict with Islamic terrorists in the region.
“But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening,” Whitaker said to Harris.
In a promotional clip that was posted by CBS News on Sunday, Harris responded to that statement from Whitaker by saying: “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.”
WATCH (relevant portion starts at 1:36):
Monday, on a 60 Minutes election special, Bill Whitaker asks Vice President Kamala Harris if the U.S. lacks influence over American ally Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. https://t.co/TG3WOCA23A pic.twitter.com/IH6MXMjuCP
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 6, 2024
However, when the full interview was released by the network on Monday night, Harris’s statement was absent. It was not included in the television broadcast, nor did it appear in the YouTube posting, the interview transcript, or the show’s “Overtime” segment.
Instead, during the broadcast and online, Whitaker’s remark that “it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening” was followed by Harris’s response: “We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
WATCH (relevant portion begins at 1:19):
With just 29 days until Election Day, Bill Whitaker sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris. One year after Hamas' terror attack on Israel, Whitaker starts by asking Harris what the U.S. can do to prevent an all-out regional war in the Middle East. https://t.co/NsOjzQIL5O pic.twitter.com/dRruqbEaqg
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 8, 2024
The second set of remarks from Harris is the one included in the transcript released by the network.
In response to the discrepancy, the Trump campaign criticized the network for “deceptively” editing Harris’s answer “to diminish Kamala’s foolish response.”
“Why did 60 Minutes choose not to air Kamala’s full word salad, and what else did they choose not to air?” asked Karoline Leavitt, Trump National Press Secretary, in a Tuesday night statement. “The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview. We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?”
CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A closer examination of Harris’s remarks and the current state of the 2024 presidential race suggests that the edit aimed to do more than simply “diminish Kamala’s foolish response.”
In her initial reply, Harris stated that the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts and advocacy significantly influenced Israel’s actions in the region.
Her comments came as Whitaker discussed Netanyahu’s military actions against Hezbollah, despite objections from the administration, and his commitment to eradicating Hamas in Gaza to prevent future attacks like those on October 7.
Harris’s response poses a political challenge for her as she seeks to secure crucial swing states needed to defeat former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
One critical state for Harris is Michigan, which has a significant Muslim population that has expressed outrage over Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) warned donors last week that internal polling from her Senate campaign indicates Harris is “underwater” and trailing Trump in the state, according to Axios.
The New York Times reported on Monday, marking the first anniversary of October 7, that Israel’s war against Islamic terror groups in the Middle East is “threatening the Democratic coalition in the United States.”
The report states:
Nowhere are those tensions more politically important than in Michigan, a crucial battleground state with a significant population of Arab American and Muslim voters.
Four years ago, President Biden won Michigan with strong backing from many of those Americans. But interviews this weekend with voters, activists and community leaders in the Detroit area suggested that support for the Democratic ticket has not merely eroded among Arab Americans and Muslims.
In some neighborhoods, it has all but vanished.
Harris has addressed her declining support among Muslims by meeting with Arab leaders in Michigan, even as more Jewish Americans report feeling threatened by anti-Semitic violence and the political Left’s support of pro-Hamas protests.
Her response on “60 Minutes” risked escalating tensions within the Islamic community, which may interpret her comments as an endorsement of the administration’s support for Israel’s actions.
The version that aired was essentially the opposite of her original statement. In her response, she asserted, “We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end,” which aligns with the Islamic community’s calls for an end to Israel’s military actions since October 8, 2023.
The following post features the video that went viral on social media, highlighting the deceptive edits from “60 Minutes.”
Remember Kamala’s word salad answer about Israel on 60 Minutes? It’s gone.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 8, 2024
This is what many Americans will now see. pic.twitter.com/H4w7btDv6x
