Kylie Rancor
President Trump has made good on his threat to release footage from a recent interview for 60 Minutes ahead of the air date, after complaining yet again that the media is biased against him.
The president sat down with respected journalist Lesley Stahl earlier this week for a traditional pre-election interview. But Trump abruptly left around 45 minutes into the conversation, and never returned for a follow-up “walk and talk” interview he had scheduled with Stahl and Vice President Mike Pence. Later, on Twitter, he slammed Stahl’s interview as “FAKE and BIASED,” saying he might release the footage himself.
This morning, the raw footage was posted to Trump’s Facebook, directing people to “look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS.”
Prior to its release, Trump tweeted that he was giving a “full, unedited preview of the vicious attempted ‘takeout’ interview of me by Lesley Stahl of @60Minutes,” citing “her constant interruptions & anger” as compared to his “full, flowing and ‘magnificently brilliant’ answers to their questions.”
However, it’s obvious from the start of the video that Trump is gearing up for a fight. Stahl asks him if he’s ready for some “tough questions” and he readily admits that he doesn’t want any of that.
The interview itself is fairly standard, but Stahl doesn’t just let Trump lie or make vague remarks like he is so often able to get away with doing during press conferences. She actually pushes back against unsubstantiated claims or flat out lies until Trump, which many feel is probably the reason the president considered the interview “unfair.”
Clips and quotes being posted show the president stammering through responses to questions on healthcare, the attempted kidnapping of Governor Whitmer, and Hunter Biden’s laptop.
And yes, he somehow found a way to bring up Hillary Clinton’s emails, despite everything.
All in all, it seems unlikely the footage will make anyone who isn’t already devoted to Trump switch over to his side, as it makes him, not Stahl, come off as uninformed, combative, and absolutely unwilling to be held accountable to the American people for anything he does as president.
And of course, there was pretty blatant sexism on display as well.
60 Minutes expressed their frustration with the release of the footage on Twitter, but added that it “will not deter 60 Minutes from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades.”
The interview will air on CBS this Sunday.