President Donald Trump released footage from the CBS 60 Minutes interview after White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Stahl was acting "more like an opinion journalist."
"Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS," said the president on social media. "Tonight's anchor, Kristen Welker, is far worse! #MAGA"
The video starts with Trump saying he's looking for "fairness" during the interview, as anchor Leslie Stahl preps the president by saying she was going to ask "tough questions."
"You don't ask Biden tough questions," said the president. "It's terrible, you know that."
Stahl told the president that the revelations regarding Joe and Hunter Biden from Hunter's laptop "can't be verified."
Trump then responded by asking why not.
Stahl replied: "Because it can't be verified." (The contents of the laptop have been verified by law enforcement officials, Fox News and the New York Post.)
This exchange between Trump and Lesley Stahl is insane. She repeatedly insists the Biden laptops “can’t be verified” so reporters shouldn’t talk about it.
— Anders Hagstrom (@Hagstrom_Anders) October 22, 2020
Trump asks her why it can’t be verified.
Her answer: “Because it can’t be verified.” pic.twitter.com/cf9hcSGnrm
Lesley Stahl “DISCREDITED HERSELF”??
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) October 22, 2020
She repeatedly cited the Senate GOP Report on Biden corruption@realDonaldTrump: “Do you think it’s OK for the mayor of Moscow’s wife to give him millions?”
Lesley falsely says “no real evidence of that”
It’s in the VERY report she cites! pic.twitter.com/YRWceHgXVq
At one point, Trump said "“I don’t have to discredit you. You’ve discredited yourself” to Stahl.
President @realDonaldTrump to Lesley Stahl in video of @60Minutes video posted by the White House: “I don’t have to discredit you. You’ve discredited yourself.” pic.twitter.com/FY9L1VuDbY
— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) October 22, 2020
When Trump touted his building of the "greatest economy in the history of [The United States], Stahl interrupts to tell him what he said "isn't true, to which Trump responds "You wouldn't say that to Biden, what you just said to me."
"Best unemployment numbers, best employment numbers... Highest stock market price. You wouldn't say that to Biden, what you just said to me... We had the best—everything was the best," said Trump.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2020
The interview then goes into the ongoing health crisis, where Trump says that cases have increased solely due to the increase in testing being conducted.
Trump blames China for "allowing this plague" to go throughout the world.
"We do more testing. If we didn't do testing, cases would be way down." We do more testing than any country in the world, by far. Second is India, with 1.5 billion people. If we did half the testing, we'd have half the cases... Because we do so much testing, the fake news media loves to say cases are up."
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2020
The interview continues to be confrontational until the tipping point, where Trump compares his interview with the 60 Minutes interview conducted with Joe Biden, who Trump says was given "softball after softball."
After 37 minutes, a producer steps in to provide a five minute warning, as Trump was scheduled to be interviewed side-by-side with Vice President Mike Pence, to which the president says he thinks "there's enough of an interview here." The interview then abruptly ends.
Trump would go on to post a video onto social media showing host Leslie Stahl not wearing a mask post-interview.
Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come. pic.twitter.com/0plZG6a4fH
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2020
A source told CNN that the footage was from immediately after the interview and that Stahl had not yet been able to get her personal belongings, including her mask.
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