Trump to appear on 60 Minutes only if CBS apologizes for dismissing Hunter Biden laptop story

Donald Trump has said that the only way he will be doing a 60 Minutes interview is if CBS News apologizes for the time he was being interviewed by journalist Leslie Stahl, argued that the Hunter Biden laptop story could "not be verified."

In June that laptop was introduced as evidence against Hunter Biden. In 2020, a host of intelligence experts who claimed that the laptop was Russian disinformation signed a letter, suppressing the story. The letter had been driven by the CIA soliciting them for signatures.



The Republican presidential candidate revealed on Tuesday in Milwaukee that the incident with Stahl has not been forgotten and apparently not yet forgiven, per the New York Post. Trump made the comments just before the start of the vice-presidential debate between his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).

"First I want to get an apology,” Trump responded when asked about his decision not to sit down with 60 Minutes for an interview that would have been aired Monday night. “They said the laptop from hell was from Russia. I said it wasn’t from Russia, it was from Hunter [Biden]. They really owed me an apology.”

“After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate,” CBS News said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail. 

“For over half a century, 60 Minutes has invited the Democratic and Republican tickets to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls,” CBS continued. “This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes.”

The 2020 Stahl interview did not go well from the start as the then-president accused CBS News of conducting “a joke” of an interview with Joe Biden that lacked any punch or tough questions. When Trump noted that the former administration of President Barack Obama “spied on [his] campaign.”

Touching on the laptop in the interview, Trump told Stahl about Biden and his son, “It’s a very important issue to find out whether a man’s corrupt who’s running for president, who’s accepted money from China, and Ukraine, and from Russia,” Trump said at the time “Take a look at what’s going on, Leslie, and you say that shouldn’t be discussed?…I think it’s one of the biggest scandals I’ve ever seen, and you don’t cover it."

Well because it can’t be verified,” Stahl said. “I’m telling you—”

“Of course it can be verified,” Trump interjected. “Excuse me, Leslie, they found a laptop—" Stahl then repeated that the laptop could "not be verified."

Trump eventually ended the interview early after some back and forth with Stahl. "I think we have enough of an interview here … That's enough. Let's go. Let's go," he said at the time.