Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is struggling to distance itself from CBS News’ controversial move to air an edited version of her answers to questions she gave in a “60 Minutes” interview that aired this week.
In a preview of CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, the vice president gave a vague answer to correspondent Bill Whitaker’s question about how much control the United States has over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But when the “60 Minutes” special aired Monday, the answer was edited into a shorter, more facetious version, raising questions about whether CBS executives moved to conceal the longer, complicated “word salad” from Harris. Were.
Now, Harris’ campaign is trying to remove itself from the conversation.
An aide to the Harris campaign told multiple outlets, including Fox News and Variety, “We do not control CBS’s production decisions and refer questions to CBS.”
The Harris campaign and CBS News did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
In the original preview, Whittaker asked Harris if the US had any “influence” on Netanyahu.
“The aid we have given to Israel has allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were meant only to attack Israelis and the Israeli people. And when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran presents, I think without question it is our imperative to allow Israel to defend itself against these types of attacks. “Do what you can,” Harris replied.
“The work we are doing now diplomatically with the Israeli leadership is an ongoing effort to clarify our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need to end this war, the need for a settlement Who will release the hostages and create a ceasefire,” Harris continued.
“And we are not going to stop in terms of putting pressure on the region, including Israel and Arab leaders.”
However, when the primetime “60 Minutes” special aired, Harris’s four run-on sentences were changed to brief one-sentence answers.
“The work we do diplomatically with Israel’s leadership is a continued effort to clarify our principles,” Harris said in the primetime episode.
When Whittaker pushed Harris and said Netanyahu wasn’t listening, Harris’ response in the “Face the Nation” preview was similarly vague.
“Well, Bill, the work that we’ve done has resulted in a number of movements by Israel in that region, which were inspired by, or were a result of, a lot of things, including our understanding of what needs to happen in the region. Advocacy was also involved, Harris said.
Unlike the first editing change – which cut off his lengthy answer – this time the primetime interview included a completely different answer from the Democratic candidate.
“We will never stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to make clear where we stand on the need to end this war,” Harris said on Primetime Edition.
Critics have claimed that the edit is a stumble on the part of the network and an attempt to sway public opinion in Harris’ favor.
of former President Donald Trump The campaign has called on CBS News to release an “unedited transcript” Of the entire interview.
“The word salad was misleadingly edited to minimize Kamala’s idiotic response,” Trump campaign press secretary Carolyn Levitt told The Post in a statement. “Why did 60 Minutes decide not to air Kamala’s entire word salad, and what else did they decide not to air? The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript of Kamala’s sit-down interview.”
CBS has not commented directly on the editing controversy.
During the “60 Minutes” broadcast, correspondent Scott Pelley claimed that Trump had backed out of a planned interview because his campaign complained that the network wanted to fact-check his interview.
“We fact-check every story,” Pelley said.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung previously said, “Nothing was determined or agreed upon.”
Harris’s interview marks the first time since the 1960s that both presidential candidates did not sit down with “60 Minutes” for an interview in October.
