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CBS’ “60 Minutes” finally aired its controversial segment on migrants deported to El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT, Sunday night after being abruptly pulled off the air last month.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, a CBS spokesperson said, “CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT piece as soon as it was ready.”
“60 Minutes” previously delayed the segment hours before it was set to air in December after it was “determined it needed additional reporting” by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. The segment, however, aired earlier on Canada’s Global TV app where it quickly spread across social media.
WHO IS SHARYN ALFONSI? ’60 MINUTES’ CORRESPONDENT IS ALLEGING POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN HER STORY ON CECOT
The segment largely featured the same beats from the original story, which featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing two Venezuelan men who were sent to the El Salvador prison last year.
However, the newly aired segment also featured additional material recorded by Alfonsi which, most notably, included previously unmentioned statements by the Trump administration.
“In a statement to 60 Minutes, the White House said, ‘President Trump is committed to keeping his promises to the American people by removing dangerous criminal and terrorist illegal aliens….’ The administration’s statements are available in full online,” Alfonsi said.
CBS DIDN’T INCLUDE WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ABOUT ANGEL PARENTS IN CECOT SEGMENT ON ’60 MINUTES’
The date of comments included in the segment from White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson and Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin were dated Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, respectively, days before the segment was originally set to air.
The original segment did not include comments from the Trump administration, which reportedly became one of the factors that led Weiss to pulling the piece.
Weiss defended what has been her most controversial decision in CBS leadership to staffers in comments later confirmed by Fox News Digital shortly after the delay, saying the story was “not ready.”
’60 MINUTES’ REPORTER LASHES OUT AT BARI WEISS AFTER SEGMENT ON EL SALVADOR PRISON YANKED AT LAST MINUTE
“I held a ‘60 Minutes’ story because it was not ready,” Weiss said. “While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball — the [New York] Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is ‘60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News for additional comment.
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