Last July, CBS News’ parent company, Paramount Global, agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over alleged deceptive editing tactics in a fall 2024 interview with then-Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes.
Weeks later, Skydance Media completed its acquisition and merger with Paramount Global, which some had hoped would usher in change at the beleaguered broadcast network. While there have been changes in leadership and to the programming lineup, CBS’ flagship news program is back in the headlines for another editing controversy – this time involving Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The Notable Edit
The March 8 episode of 60 Minutes aired an edited interview between Hegseth and CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that had been filmed two days prior about the war with Iran. During the segment that appeared on 60 Minutes (watch it here), Garrett could be heard via voice over setting up a question he allegedly asked Hegseth in the following way:
GARRETT VOICE OVER: There are varying versions of how and why the war started when it did. Some normally enthusiastic supporters of the President have criticized him, suggesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pulled the U.S. into a war that, to their minds, did not put American interests first.
At that point, 60 Minutes cut back to the very end of a question Garrett asked Hegseth in real time, suggesting the voice over, snippet of the question, and the secretary’s answer all went together. Here is how the question and answer aired:
GARRETT: Do you want to address that criticism?
HEGSETH: All I know is I’m in the room every day, and I see how President Trump operates and what he’s putting first, and it’s America Americans and American interests.
The problem? The question Garrett actually asked proceeding “do you want to address that criticism?” never mentioned Israel or Netanyahu at all. In the “extended” version of the interview that was made available online (watch it here), the full context of Garrett’s question and Hegseth’s complete answer sounds quite a bit different:
GARETT: You mentioned America First. Some who identify with that movement – Megyn Kelly, Tucker, Carlson, Candace, Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene – have said, from their perspective, this isn’t an America First campaign. Do you want to address that criticism?
HEGSETH: All I know is, I’m in the room every day, and I see how President Trump operates and what he’s putting first, and it’s America, Americans, and American interests at every level. How long should our bases be tolerating thousands of short-range ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones pointing at our bases and our people? After 47 years of Americans being targeted and killed, the men I served with in combat in Iraq coming home with no arms and no legs, targeted by Iranian EFPs. Thousands of Americans killed. Beirut. You want to go back? We can go back to how long– I mean, the regime itself is premised on ‘Death to America.’ So 47 years, thousands of missiles, and an unrelenting pursuit of nuclear ambitions. I mean, President Trump’s right. When he says, ‘We obliterated their nuclear program.’ He’s right. We did. We dropped those bombs exactly where they needed to be, set them back, and we’re– But that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped their pursuit. Doesn’t mean in the back of their mind they’re thinking, well, maybe we’ll wait it out and keep– They’ve miscalculated the resolve of President Trump. Ask, ask Nicolás Maduro about that. Ask, you know, the Houthis about that. Look at the southern border. Look at the cartels and drug boats. When President Trump says he’ll take care of something, he’s going to take care of it.
The unedited version of the 26-minute sit-down reveals Garrett did ask a question about Israel and the intelligence the country and Netanyahu may have provided the U.S. ahead of the February 28 strikes, but it came some three minutes after the exchange above.
Megyn’s Take
It is because of President Trump’s settlement with Paramount that 60 Minutes now releases its full interviews with newsmakers like Hegseth. In this case, it revealed how the program chose to take one of the secretary’s answers completely out of context, an editorial decision Megyn believes CBS News must own up to.
On Monday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn reacted to editing controversy. Below are her thoughts, edited for length and clarity:
“There was nothing, nothing about Netanyahu and nothing about Israel in the Q or the A. Only CBS decided to style it in that fashion. But here’s the thing: They do not give a shit about misleading you over at CBS – the old CBS, or the new CBS, which has a brand new agenda. The left will tell you that it’s pro-MAGA. It’s not pro-MAGA. Trust me. Watch two minutes of the evening news or the morning news. It is not pro-MAGA at all, but it is pro-Israel. Bari Weiss has finally achieved her dream of running a news network that will be entirely pro-Israel. This is not just me saying this. Everybody all over the internet who has been watching CBS is noting how unfair their coverage is on this. It is not fair and balanced at all.
So, not only did CBS reframe the whole thing unfairly to be about Bibi Netanyahu, which was not Major’s question and was not Pete’s answer – he was not answering a question about Israel – but they also then jumped two and a half minutes in the interview after Hegseth’s answer to then a question about Netanyahu providing intel to the U.S. in the war. But that moment [was] an example of inserting Israel into a Q&A that never mentioned it in the first place.
They are trying to shove Israel into the debate. Israel is in the debate, but you can’t make a question that wasn’t about it about it later with an anchor track. That’s what they did. They took Major’s question out and they laid in anchor track to make it about Netanyahu and Israel so that Pete’s answer would be rehabilitative of that. What kind of bullshit is this?
Obviously, we’ve got a lot of questions about this war as I made clear last week. We are still supporters of President Trump entirely. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with every decision the man makes. And we support our troops and we support success in this mission now that it has been started, but we have a lot of questions about this war. Some are about Israel’s role, obviously. Some are about gas prices… Many are about whether this is good for the American people [and] whether… we are now subjecting the homeland to more potential terrorism attacks…
Major Garrett, who is a good reporter, took the criticism… and asked… [a] totally fair question. Major does his homework. Trust me, I know him very well. We officed together for two years and have been through a lot together. And they changed that question with a voice over to: ‘There are varying versions of how and why the war started when it did. Some normally enthusiastic supporters of the President have criticized him, suggesting Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu pulled the U.S. into a war that, to their minds, did not put American interests first.’ That is a different question. I also believe that – as do, I think, the other people on your list – but that is a very different question than, ‘Why do we think this war is not America First?’ And CBS manipulated the Q&A in order to rehabilitate Netanyahu in a way that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was not doing in that answer…
This is ridiculous. Welcome to the new CBS, same as the old CBS. Deceptive editing, deceptive manipulations meant to push their own agenda.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 1,268 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.