There’s a report out this morning that President Trump abruptly ended his 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl yesterday and walked out:
MEDIAITE – Details are emerging from the 60 Minutes interview — set for air on Sunday night — which President Donald Trump abruptly ended.
According to the Washington Post, citing an unnamed person familiar with the interview, the president was not pleased with the questioning from 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl on a variety of topics including; his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, his feud with Dr. Anthony Fauci, and his rhetoric about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). Trump also didn’t like that Stahl threw cold water on claims he made about Hunter Biden.
The interview infuriated Trump to the degree that he threatened to release it prior to its scheduled airing on Sunday. He also posted a five-second clip showing Stahl after the interview without a mask. (CBS says Stahl was speaking with her producers, all of whom tested negative for Covid-19 earlier in the day.)
“She just had a tone he didn’t like”
A White House staffer told the Post that the interview “was not that bad.”
“She just had a tone he didn’t like,” the staffer told the Post.
Three White House aides also told the Post that Trump overreacted and that his lashing out will likely only serve to increase the show’s ratings.
This would explain why President Trump yesterday threatened to air the 60 Minutes video before they do to show how biased it was against him. Also, if those were indeed the topics, it’s very likely Stahl was trying to tear Trump down just like the NBC town hall he did the other day.
But I would take exaggerated claims with a grain of salt until we see what actually happened. Mark Meadows is saying this morning that Trump spent 45 minutes with Stahl and that he didn’t walk out, as some are characterizing it. He also noted that they do have the full 60 Minutes interview and would likely release it ahead of time:
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said there is a “high probability” that President Trump will release an interview he did with 60 Minutes before it airs Sunday, and accused journalist Lesley Stahl of acting “more like an opinion journalist.
“He didn’t walk out,” Meadows told Fox Business on Wednesday. “I mean, the characterization of that – he spent over 45 minutes with Lesley Stahl. I’ve looked at every single minute of the interview and then some. We have tape of every single minute.”
“Listen,” he continued, “when you have a 60 Minutes reporter, they should be a reporter not an opinion journalist. And she came across more like an opinion journalist.”
Asked if the President would release the video before it’s scheduled to air Sunday, as he threatened to do on Twitter, Meadows said “there’s a high probability.”
Yesterday Mark Levin thought Trump’s threat of releasing the interview was a great idea:
Great idea! Please post it! https://t.co/AnW32B7L0s
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) October 21, 2020
I guess we’ll all get to see what really happened very soon.