Mark Halperin:
Another thing I talked about with the civilian was CBS News and 60 Minutes, which are front and center in the press’s failure to acknowledge past errors. It’s ironic now to hear people from CBS portray themselves as defenders of the First Amendment and journalism integrity. Recently, the president of CBS News and the head of 60 Minutes resigned in protest over CBS’s parent company possibly settling with Donald Trump, paying him to acknowledge wrongdoing over something that ironically wasn’t even wrong. CBS needs to settle to avoid interference from the Trump administration as they try to sell the company.
What Trump’s upset about, in this particular instance, wasn’t liberal bias—it was that CBS edited Kamala Harris’s answers in a 60 Minutes segment to make her sound clearer. That’s just standard TV editing, not bias. Still, CBS executives are right to protest the settlement but fail to acknowledge their own history of bias.
For instance, something most people probably forgot: in 2020, Trump did a 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, where Trump brought up Hunter Biden’s laptop. CBS didn’t highlight this exchange, but it was incredibly revealing. Stahl was indignant when Trump tried to discuss the laptop because at the time, as you recall, the media was collaborating with Democrats to label it as Russian disinformation. Listen to Trump’s exchange with Lesley Stahl:
Donald Trump (clip):
I think it’s one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen, and you don’t cover it.
Lesley Stahl (clip):
Well, because it can’t be verified.
Trump:
Of course it can be verified.
Stahl:
It can’t be verified.
Trump:
What can’t be verified?
Stahl:
The laptop.
Trump:
Why do you say that?
Stahl:
Because even the family hasn’t—
Trump:
The family on the laptop—he’s gone into hiding for five days. He’s gone into hiding.
Stahl:
He’s preparing for your debate.
Trump:
Oh, it’s taken him five days to prepare? I doubt it. I doubt it.
Mark Halperin:
Trump can’t prove it, but many conservatives believe that if the laptop had been covered—not for Hunter’s embarrassing photos but for what it showed about Biden Inc.—without censorship from social media, mainstream media, and Democrats, Trump might have won. I don’t know if that’s provable, but many believe it.
Yet, here was Lesley Stahl, a senior correspondent for 60 Minutes, not investigating the laptop, but instead arguing like a DNC spokesperson, claiming, “You can’t verify it.” CBS has never, to my knowledge, acknowledged this professional failure, nor explained how this could happen. Unless the press acknowledges past failures, people won’t believe them when they hold Trump accountable now.
Here’s another 60 Minutes moment—Scott Pelley’s recent graduation speech, implicitly criticizing Trump. Listen closely: every single issue Pelley worries about under Trump, conservatives say occurred under Biden. Here’s Scott Pelley:
Scott Pelley (clip):
But in this moment, this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, businesses, homes, into our private thoughts—the fear to speak. The Wake Forest class of 1861 didn’t choose their time; the class of 1941 didn’t choose; the class of 1968 didn’t choose. History chose them. Now, history calls you, the class of 2025.
Mark Halperin:
To be clear, Scott Pelley’s concerns about Trump are legitimate and worth debating. But ignoring that all these concerns—free speech, the rule of law—also occurred under the Biden administration tells millions of Americans the press won’t hold Democrats accountable to the same standards. CBS correspondents would never give a commencement speech like that during a Democratic administration. They should reconsider how they covered the Hunter Biden laptop and Biden’s mental decline.
Yet, even now, with Jake Tapper’s and Alex Thompson’s book out, the media keeps asking Democrats the wrong question: “Did you privately see Biden’s cognitive decline?” Stop asking Democrats that question. They’re never going to confess. The right question is: “Since you saw Biden’s decline publicly, why didn’t you do anything about it?” And ask yourselves in the media: “What role did we play in covering it up?”
Here’s Bill Clinton interviewed by CBS News about Biden, again asked the wrong question:
CBS Interviewer (clip):
Did you ever have a moment where you thought maybe Biden was unfit to run?
Bill Clinton (clip):
No, I thought he was a good president. The only concern was could anybody do that job until they were 86. We’d had several talks; I never walked away thinking, “He can’t do this anymore.” He was always on top of his brief.
Mark Halperin:
Maybe privately Biden was sharp around Clinton, but Bill Clinton watches C-SPAN. He saw what everyone else saw. Again, stop asking Democrats if they saw decline privately—ask why they ignored what we all saw publicly.
If the media wants credibility back, stop trying to run out the clock, avoiding admitting your massive failure. They’re calling this the “biggest scandal in American media history,” yet the media blames only a few Biden aides and other Democrats, ignoring their own role.
This is why the civilian I spoke with is turning to programs like this one—something I appreciate. How can you trust a news organization to cover Trump tough but fairly when they covered the previous administration with their heads in the sand, simply to avoid helping Trump win, and were intimidated by Biden’s team? Unless they come clean about what went wrong, and explain how they’ll do better, it’s appalling.
People must demand explanations from news organizations if they want our attention, subscriptions, and business. Lesley Stahl never owned up to the laptop fiasco. Scott Pelley never addressed the abuses under Biden’s administration. And until they do, trust won’t return.
