America’s top broadcasting regulatory body, the Federal Communications Commission, has denounced Donald Trump after the former US president demanded that CBS be stripped of its licence for airing an edited answer in a primetime interview with Kamala Harris.
He also called the network a “threat to democracy” and targeted other broadcasters for having their licences revoked also.
In a furious onslaught that seemed to bode ill for freedom of the press in the US if he returns to the White House, Trump accused the network of “a giant fake news scam” for broadcasting a clip from Harris about Israel in Monday’s 60 Minutes programme that was shorter and snappier than the version transmitted in the trailer.
Trump claimed the contrasting answers proved CBS and the Democrats were colluding to commit “election interference” in next month’s presidential poll and said both were “threats to democracy”.
His outburst was condemned as “threats against free speech” by the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Jessica Rosenworcel, who said broadcasting licences could not be revoked because a candidate dislikes coverage.
Challenged by the interviewer Bill Whitaker over whether Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, listens to US advice on Gaza , Monday’s programme broadcast Harris answering: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States – to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
Rightwing critics on social media pointed out that the trailer had featured a more convoluted answer which they branded a “word salad” – a criticism often leveled at the vice-president’s media pronouncements.
The trailer version, in response to the same prompt from Whitaker, had Harris answering: “Well, Bill, 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.”
Both segments were part of a longer exposition by Harris on support for Israel while trying to influence its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza, in which more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed. The answer came in the opening section of the interview, which was broadcast on the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel last October, which resulted in about 1,200 Israelis being murdered and 250 taken hostage.
Neither CBS nor the Harris campaign has commented on the controversy, although the differing responses appeared to be part of a standard editing process that is not unusual for 60 Minutes.
However, Trump seized on the differences on his Truth Social platform to allege a conspiracy to make Harris appear more coherent and thereby sway next month’s election.
“A giant Fake News Scam by CBS & 60 Minutes,” he wrote. “Her REAL ANSWER WAS CRAZY, OR DUMB, so they actually REPLACED it with another answer in order to save her or, at least, make her look better. A FAKE NEWS SCAM, which is totally illegal. TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference.”
He returned to the theme several hours later in two more posts. “60 Minutes is a major part of the News Organization of CBS, which has just created the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History,” he wrote. “CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS – and maybe even WORSE!”
Minutes later, he added: “With me, 60 Minutes does the exact opposite! They take everything I say, realize how totally BRILLIANT it is, and take it out. So, with Kamala they add, with ‘TRUMP,’ they delete. Like the Democrat Party, THEY ARE A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!”
The latter comment appeared to be an oblique reference to Trump’s withdrawal from an interview he had previously agreed to give the programme, which has been airing pre-election interviews with presidential candidates for more than half a century.
In a segment during the Harris broadcast, Scott Pelley – who had been due to interview Trump – told viewers that the former president’s campaign staff had offered “shifting explanations” for the cancellation, including complaining that it would be factchecked and demanding an apology over a contentious interview he gave the programme before the 2020 election.
Calls from Trump to cancel broadcasters’ licences are not unprecedented. He issued a similar demand against ABC last month after it hosted his debate with Harris, widely regarded as a win for the vice-president. Trump and his supporters complained of unfair treatment, alleging that the debate’s moderators factchecked him while failing to subject Harris to similar scrutiny.
Similar threats were made during his presidency, when he frequently denounced the media as “enemies of the people” and called for journalists to be jailed for refusing to reveal their sources.
However, Rosenworcel, the FCC chair, said the latest threats should not go unchallenged and asserted that they amounted to an assault against the US constitution’s first amendment guaranteeing free speech.
“While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former president may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored,” she told the Hill.
“The first amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
