Trump claimed ‘60 Minutes’ replaced Harris’ interview answers. That’s not what the transcript shows.

President Donald Trump’s monthslong feud with CBS News’ "60 Minutes" reignited after the news program released the full, unedited transcript and video of its pre-election interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate.

About three weeks after the Oct. 7, 2024, interview aired, Trump sued CBS Broadcasting Inc. and CBS Interactive Inc. for $10 billion, claiming the news outlet deceptively edited the "60 Minutes" interview to favor Harris. Then, at the end of January, the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, called on CBS to release the unedited transcript and video. CBS News complied, releasing the content publicly Feb. 5.

In response, Trump posted Feb. 6 on his social media platform Truth Social that CBS committed "fraud."

"CBS and 60 Minutes defrauded the public by doing something which has never, to this extent, been seen before," Trump wrote. "They 100% removed Kamala’s horrible election changing answers to questions, and replaced them with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview."

Trump’s statement misrepresents what happened.

Trump is referring to Harris’ answers in two videos CBS News released. In an Oct. 6, 2024, video clip previewing the interview on the CBS News show "Face the Nation," Harris answered a question about U.S.-Israel relations. The next day, when the "60 Minutes" interview aired, it showed Harris giving a different answer to the same question.

The full, unedited interview transcript shows that CBS News’ "60 Minutes" took Harris’ answers in both videos from the same three-and-a-half-minute exchange on U.S.-Israel relations. It does not show that CBS News replaced Harris’ answers on this topic with a response from a different portion of the interview.

It’s typical for news outlets to edit long interviews into shorter broadcast segments or published stories.

Trump backed out of his CBS News "60 Minutes" interview before the 2024 election, breaking a decadeslong tradition of major party presidential candidates’ interviews with the network ahead of the general election.

PolitiFact contacted the White House for comment, but received no response.

Because the interview aired on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker began the interview with questions about Israel and the Biden-Harris administration’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

PolitiFact annotated the unedited interview transcript below to show how "60 Minutes" presented Harris’ answers in the preview clip and aired interview.

Here’s a guide, followed by the exchange:

• Bold: Only in the preview clip.

• Italics: Only in the aired interview.

• Bold and italics: In both videos.

• Unmarked sections: Not included in either video.

Whitaker: "We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid."

Harris: "Mm-hmm."

Whitaker: "And yet Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. The Biden administration, the Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a cease-fire, he's resisted. You urged him not to go into Lebanon, he went in anyway. He has promised to make Iran pay for the missile attack, and that has the potential of expanding the war. Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?"

Harris: "Well, let’s start with this. On this subject, the aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis, and the people of Israel. And I think that is the most recent example of why what we do to assist in their defense around military aid is important. And when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah presents Iran, I think that it is without any question our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks. Now, the work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done which would release the hostages, and create a cease-fire. And we’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel, and in the region, including with other leaders in the region, including Arab leaders."

Whitaker: "But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening. The Wall Street Journal said that he — that your administration has repeatedly been blindsided by Netanyahu, and in fact, he has rebuffed just about all of your administration’s entreaties."

Harris: "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. And we’re not going to stop doing that. 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."

Whitaker: "Just one last thing. Do we have a real close ally in Prime Minister Netanyahu?"

Harris: "I think, with all due respect, the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people. And the answer to that question is, ‘Yes.’ And we are going to do what is important to support whatever leadership is in Israel, that is defending the security of the State of Israel."

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After this response, Whitaker changed topics to ask Harris why she wanted to be president. The Israel topic arose only once more during the interview, when Harris briefly mentioned Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.

The full, unedited interview video is available on "60 Minutes" YouTube page. The exchange about U.S.-Israel relations starts about six minutes in.

You can also read the full, unedited interview transcript here. The exchange about U.S.-Israel relations is on Pages 11-13. Parts highlighted in yellow were included in the preview clip, parts highlighted in blue were in the aired interview and parts highlighted in green were in both videos.

When publishing the transcripts and video the Federal Communications Commission requested, CBS News said in a statement that the content shows "the ‘60 Minutes’ broadcast was not doctored or deceitful."

In its statement, CBS News noted that it’s common practice for journalists to edit interviews for time, space or clarity. The full, unedited interview video is 57 minutes long; that was edited down to 20 minutes.

CBS News said it broadcast a longer portion of Harris’ answer to Whitaker’s question about U.S.-Israel relations in a preview clip and a shorter version of Harris’ answer was included in the aired interview.

The news outlet said it edited the "60 Minutes" interview to include as much of Harris’ answers to Whitaker’s questions as possible, while fairly representing the substance of Harris’ answers.

CBS News made a similar statement Oct. 20, 2024, rebutting Trump’s accusation of deceitful editing.

Kelly McBride, senior vice president and chair of Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, told PolitiFact that CBS News’ "60 Minutes" edited the Harris interview reasonably. (The Poynter Institute owns PolitiFact.)

"I would say that their edits are completely within the standards that journalists employ when they try to create an informative product for the public," McBride said. "It seems very much like what journalists do with all verbose speakers, including and especially Donald Trump."

Trump posted on Truth Social that CBS News and 60 Minutes "replaced" Harris’ "60 Minutes" interview answers "with completely different, and far better, answers, taken from another part of the interview."

The full, unedited interview transcript does not show that CBS News’ "60 Minutes" replaced all of Harris’ answers to questions about U.S.-Israel relations with a response from a different part of the interview. CBS did not change Harris’ meaning.

News outlets commonly edit interviews for length and clarity. CBS News used a longer version of Harris’ response in a video clip previewing the "60 Minutes" interview on the CBS News show "Face the Nation." It used a shorter excerpt of Harris’ answer in the aired "60 Minutes" interview. Both parts of Harris’ answer were taken from the same segment of the interview, the unedited transcript shows.

A media ethics expert said the "60 Minutes" interview adhered to typical journalistic standards.

We rate this claim False.

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