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** OPINION
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** Top Democrat files complaint over '60 Minutes' interview with President Trump
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President Donald Trump being interviewed by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell for “60 Minutes” this past November. (Photo: courtesy of CBS News.)

Did CBS News and “60 Minutes” edit an interview with President Donald Trump to keep Trump from looking bad? Is Trump throwing his weight around when it comes to CBS News?
A leading Democrat wants answers.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has filed a complaint ([link removed]) with CBS News’ new ombudsman over the way that “60 Minutes” edited a recent interview with Trump.

In addition, Raskin questioned if Trump has exerted power over the network following the administration’s approval of the merger between Skydance and Paramount, CBS’s parent company.

Raskin wrote to CBS News ombudsman Kenneth Weinstein, “President Trump increasingly appears to be exercising direct control over CBS’s editorial decisions, destroying CBS’s ‘journalistic integrity’ while violating its right to be free from governmental coercion and manipulation.”

CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell interviewed Trump for a “60 Minutes” episode that aired on Nov. 2. About 28 minutes of O’Donnell’s interview aired on “60 Minutes.” A longer, 73-minute version of the interview, as well as a transcript, was posted online.

Raskin wrote in his letter, “Most egregiously, CBS removed substantive questions about corruption after President Trump objected. When interviewer Norah O’Donnell asked about the appearance of corruption behind President Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — who had pleaded guilty to money laundering and whose company struck a $2 billion deal with the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture — President Trump got defensive: ‘I can’t say, because — I can’t say — I’m not concerned. I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it,’ he said. CBS omitted that entire exchange about potential conflicts of interest from both video versions, depriving the public of critical information about President Trump’s obvious pay-to-play pardon scheme and his obvious discomfort.”

Raskin also accused CBS News of omitting a part of the interview where Trump bragged about CBS settling a lawsuit with him over another “60 Minutes” interview — the one with then-Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris before the 2024 election. Trump sued Paramount and CBS, claiming Harris’ interview was edited in such a way to help her win the election. Despite legal experts believing Trump had no chance to prevail in court, Paramount ultimately settled by agreeing to pay Trump $16 million.

In the interview transcript, Trump said, “Actually ‘60 Minutes’ paid me a lotta money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you … ‘60 Minutes’ was forced to pay me — a lot of money because they took (Vice President Harris’) answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing … You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.”

Raskin wrote in his letter, “CBS again complied with President Trump’s request, omitting that entire exchange from both the television broadcast and the extended online version.”

Interestingly enough, after Skydance and CEO David Ellison acquired Paramount and took over CBS News in late summer, the network put an ombudsman in place.

Raskin went on to write, “Mr. Weinstein: news ombudsmen serve as independent advocates for the public, investigating complaints and publicly critiquing their organizations when those organizations fall short. You have a duty to defend CBS’s editorial independence, rather than ratify President Trump’s influence over the organization’s coverage. The facts here are clear. President Trump directed CBS to edit his own interview after suing the network for editing his opponent’s interview, and CBS complied with his requests and omitted its anchor’s questions about President Trump’s pardons. It is one thing for CBS to make independent editorial decisions protected by the First Amendment. It is quite another to make edits at the President’s demand out of fear of retribution.”

Just one more thought on this. Media observers and viewers are keeping a close eye on CBS News, especially since it named Bari Weiss editor-in-chief. (Many consider Weiss, based on her work, to be conservative, although she has described herself in the past as a “radical centrist.”) But, thus far, it would appear that CBS News continues to vigorously cover Trump and his administration, including critical stories of the president on “60 Minutes.”

A NOTE FROM POYNTER


** 2026 Poynter Journalism Prizes coming soon!
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Mark your calendars for Jan. 5, 2026. That's when the 2026 Poynter Journalism Prizes contest opens for entries. The contest recognizes the best U.S. journalism from 2025 across platforms in 10 categories, including public service, local accountability reporting, First Amendment work, distinguished writing and more.

Bookmark our site for Jan. 5! ([link removed])


** Story of the day
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, shown here in a photo from last April. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The always-superb Tim Alberta has a new piece in The Atlantic: “The Operator,” ([link removed]) about Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.

As you might recall, Shapiro was a strong consideration to be Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, but she ultimately went with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

For his story, Alberta recounted the time he told Shapiro that Harris had taken some verbal shots at him in her book, “107 Days,” which came out in September.

Alberta wrote, “I asked Shapiro if Harris had given him any heads-up about her book. She had not, he said. Then I told him that Harris had taken some shots at him. Shapiro furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. ‘K,’ he said.”

Alberta continued, “The man I observed over the next several minutes was unrecognizable. Gone was his equilibrium. He moved between outrage and exasperation as I relayed the excerpts. Harris had accused him, in essence, of measuring the drapes, even inquiring about featuring Pennsylvania artists in the vice-presidential residence; of insisting ‘that he would want to be in the room for every decision’ Harris might make; and, more generally, of hijacking the conversation when she interviewed him for the job, to the point where she reminded him that he would not be co-president.”

In response to the claim concerning the residence’s art, Shapiro told Alberta, “She wrote that in her book? That’s complete and utter (expletive). I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.”

Alberta wrote, “What seemed to bother Shapiro, more than any one detail, was Harris portraying him in ways consistent with the whispers that had dogged him throughout the vetting process and throughout his career: that he was selfish, petty, and monomaniacally ambitious.”

When asked if he felt betrayed by someone he has known for more than 20 years, Shapiro told Alberta, “I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her ass.”

Alberta said he felt Shapiro was disgusted with himself for saying that, and then collected himself before saying, “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her ass.’ I think that’s not appropriate. She’s trying to sell books. Period.”


** News about the news
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Are you following the news less closely than you used to?A new survey from the Pew Research Center ([link removed]) says you probably are.

In August of this year, 36% of U.S. adults say they follow the news “all or most of the time.” In 2016, that number was 51%.

In 2025, 38% of those surveyed said they follow the news “some of the time.” That is up from 31% in 2016. And, 18% say they follow it only “now and then,” compared with 12% in 2016.

Having less interest in the news is noticeable among party lines. Republicans and independents who lean Republican following the news “all or most of the time” in 2016 were at 57%. Today, it’s at 36%. However, Democrats and independents who lean Democrat have seen a decrease of only 10 points (49% to 39%). Then again, there’s not much difference between 36% (Republicans) and 39% (Democrats) who follow the news closely these days.

Pew’s Naomi Forman-Katz wrote, “Republicans’ trust in national and local news outlets has also declined more than Democrats’ since 2016. And Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to both use and trust many major news sources. However, Americans saying they follow the news at lower rates does not necessarily mean they’re getting less news than before. For example, 54% of U.S. adults said in early 2025 that they mostly get political news because they happen to come across it, rather than because they’re looking for it (45%).


** Nuzzi-Lizza leftovers
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New York Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg weighs in on the whole Olivia Nuzzi-Ryan Lizza journalism soap opera ([link removed]) mess in “A Serious Journalism Scandal Hiding Inside a Frivolous Sexual One.” ([link removed])

Goldberg writes, “An odd thing about the book — one that gives it an aloof, affectless quality — is that Nuzzi doesn’t seem to recognize that her collaboration with Kennedy was a grave professional betrayal. She blames Lizza, whom she refers to as ‘the man I did not marry,’ for making her private life public as part of a harassment campaign against her, and seems to believe that by firing her, New York was complicit. The magazine, she writes, ‘had been spooked into participating in what I considered a siege of hyper-domestic terror.’ Her total lack of introspection, at least on the page, is vaguely uncanny.”

Goldberg, and others, have made this fair point: If many of the things Nuzzi wrote about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in her just-released memoir “American Canto” are true, it would have been good to know before he was confirmed to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Nuzzi said she had an inappropriate, but not physical relationship with RFK — someone she had written about for New York Magazine.

In her book, and in an interview on Tim Miller’s xxxxxx podcast, Nuzzi alleges Kennedy had used psychedelics despite claiming to be “sober” for years.

Miller asked Nuzzi, “You had information that you could have shared. … RFK wasn’t even a Republican — it’s possible that these senators could have not, you know, confirmed him, and you didn’t share anything about him. Why? Like, why? Did you still love him?”

Nuzzi said, “I don’t know how to responsibly handle this on camera with you here. I’m writing in that scene that you’re talking about how I felt privately, about my private reaction, how I felt privately.”


** Oh, one more thing …
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Nuzzi’s book is, mostly, getting panned by reviewers, as I mentioned in Wednesday’s newsletter ([link removed]) . However, The Los Angeles Times’ Leigh Haber writes, “Yes, we give you permission to hate-read ‘American Canto.’” ([link removed])


** Sports pods of the year
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Jason Kelce, left, and Travis Kelce at and event in New York in May. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Spotify has announced the Top 10 Sports Podcast of the Year. (The list first appeared on Front Office Sports ([link removed]) .)

The top 10, in order, were:

1 — “New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce”

2 — “Pardon My Take”

3 — “The Bill Simmons Podcast”

4 — “Fantasy Footballers — Fantasy Football Podcast”

5 — “The MeatEater Podcast”

6 — “The Pat McAfee Show”

7 — “Jesser”

8 — “The Ryen Russillo Podcast”

9 — “National Park After Dark”

10 — “Bussin’ With The Boys”

Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner pointed out ([link removed]) that two outdoor- and nature-oriented podcasts that made the list. The first is “The MeatEater Podcast,” which focuses on outdoor topics such as hunting and fishing. The other is “National Park After Dark,” which examines the darker side of national parks when things go wrong.

Lerner added, “​​Outside of those two shows, the list shakes out as expected. ‘New Heights’ has taken on cultural importance well beyond the world of sports, making it no surprise to occupy the top spot. ‘Pardon My Take’ has been a Barstool stalwart for many years now and maintains its cachet among sports fans. And ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast,’ a Spotify product itself, regularly sits atop sports podcast charts.


** To the Max
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Max Kellerman, the former co-host of ESPN’s “First Take” along with Stephen A. Smith, is starting to wade back into the sports media world after being run out of ESPN in 2023. He appeared on Bill Simmons’ podcast ([link removed]) this week, and talked about his strained relationship with Smith, and the formula of hot-take shows such as “First Take.”

He actually wasn’t criticizing Smith, but about Smith’s role on “First Take,” Kellerman said, “Stephen A. has no hot takes. I can’t think of any counterintuitive conclusion that he ever reaches. That’s not his job on the air. His job is to be the big reactor. He’s there to hear the crazy conclusion that his partner has come to and actually be the everyman with a loud voice.”

It’s believed Smith was behind Kellerman being pushed out of ESPN. Kellerman was replaced by not one personality, but a rotating cast of sports commentators. Kellerman told Simmons that Smith, essentially, wanted to be a “solo act.”

Kellerman said, “That’s what I could tell you from my point of view. I also think that if you make a calculation, that if you can be perceived as a solo act, really, that you can get paid at a certain level that you can’t if you’re not a solo act, then you’d like to be a solo act, or at least perceived that way.”


** Media tidbits
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* Speaking of sports, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch reports ([link removed]) that the Thanksgiving Day game between the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs drew an average of 57.2 million viewers on CBS and Paramount+. That made it the most-watched regular season game in NFL history. The previous record was 42 million on Thanksgiving of 2022 when the Cowboys defeated the New York Giants. Actually, scratch that. Technically, the record was set earlier in the day on this past Thanksgiving when the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions averaged 47.7 million viewers on Fox and Tubi.
* Mediaite’s Alex Griffing with “Fox’s Jen Griffin Reveals the Details In ‘Explosive’ IG Report On Pete Hegseth.” ([link removed])
* New Washington Post food critic Elazar Sontag with “Why I’m bringing star ratings back to restaurant reviews.” ([link removed])
* For Columbia Journalism Review, Riddhi Setty and Carolina Abbott Galvao with “How Students Are Trying to Save Local News.” ([link removed])
* The Chicago Tribune’s Robert Channick with “Bruce Dold, former Chicago Tribune editor and ‘consummate newspaperman,’ dies at 70.” ([link removed])


** Hot type
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* It’s that time again: the year-end, best-of lists. Here’s The New York Times with “Best Movies of 2025.” ([link removed])
* And here’s The New York Times with “The 10 Best Books of 2025.” ([link removed])


** More resources for journalists
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* Join 650+ women leaders transformed by this leadership program since 2015. Apply by Dec. 15 ([link removed]) .
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* Amp up your editing skills, improve your work life and advance your career with Poynter’s ACES Certificates ([link removed]) .
* Join 300 newsrooms receiving free digital preservation training. Apply by Jan. 9, 2026 ([link removed]) .

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