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During his return to China in November 60 minutesJust a year ago, Donald Trump’s iconic news program was accused of election interference rave reviews About the “great new leader” just appointed to run CBS News.
“I don’t know her, but I hear she’s a great person,” the president gushed Barry Weissthe “anti-woke” founder of the neoconservative website Free Press Editor-in-Chief of Recently Installed Network.
The president praised Weiss and made a point of noting that he did not know Weiss. Shortly after, reporter Norah O’Donnell ended the interview and thanked Trump for the interview. It was at this point that Weiss and the president became very friendly on set, according to four people familiar with the matter.
After the meeting, O’Donnell and Trump had some small talk, with the president again expressing his excitement about the new leadership at CBS News and “how great” Weiss’ contribution to the network was. In addition to praising Weiss in the interview, Trump also praised Paramount CEO David Ellison, who recently purchased the parent company of CBS News and is the son of his close friend Larry Ellison.
Sources say Trump did not know independentWeiss was actually present at the interview that day and quickly walked up to the president to introduce himself. A source said: “He was excited to see her and she was excited to see him and they both leaned in for a kiss on the cheek.”
Another source noted that several people in the room were shocked by the exchange, with O’Donnell’s “jaw dropping” at the friendly embrace between the network’s top editor and the commander-in-chief.
“I’m still shocked by this,” the CBS News reporter said. “It smacks of elitism.”
independent Representatives for CBS News, Weiss and the White House have been contacted for comment.
After Weiss and Trump exchanged pleasantries, the president agreed to the executive producer’s request to sit down and allow O’Donnell to ask him a few more questions, which centered on his pardon of cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao and the corruption issues that have arisen due to Zhao’s business ties to the Trump family.
“I didn’t want you to ask that question. But I let you ask it. You just came up to me and said, ‘Can I ask one more question?’ And I said, yeah,” Trump replied at one point, According to a transcript published by CBS News Online. “Did I let you do this? I could walk away. I don’t have to answer that question.”
While network staffers aware of the kiss on the cheek between Trump and Weiss criticized the “lack of professionalism” displayed at the time, a senior CBS News insider insists it’s “standard practice” for network executives to exchange “niceness” in this way after an interview with the president.
In addition to asserting that this was fairly common behavior, the insider added that Weiss wasn’t the only person Trump hugged on set. “It’s not just Barry who says hello like this. Everyone says hello,” the insider said.
However, other CBS News staffers disagreed with that assessment.
“This is definitely not normal journalistic practice. A firm handshake is an acceptable form of greeting,” the reporter declared. “It was highly inappropriate and too close to the president and no real journalist should and would be involved in that because it showed a lack of objectivity. That was the president, not the grieving family members.”
A former CBS News producer told independent “Standard operating procedure was to keep it professional and everyone take photos together,” while a source familiar with the exchange quipped that they had “never kissed a head of state on the cheek before.”
in the months after that 60 minutes The interview comes as Weiss faces increasing scrutiny for her editorial decisions at CBS News and accusations of favoring Trump and his administration.
Last month, she Setting off a potential “rebellion” within 60 minutes when she decided to publish a last-minute story about Venezuelan immigrants being deported by the Trump administration to CECOT, a violent Salvadoran prison. She repeatedly defended the decision, claiming the article was “not ready” because it needed a government voice, prompting reporters for the segment suggesting the move was politically motivated.
this Restart cbs evening newsNow led by Weiss’ handpicked anchor Tony Dokoupil, this has only brought more criticism “MAGA encoding” Internet editorial stance.
Whether it’s friendly interviews with Trump officials, One-on-one is basically no challenge Dokupil is in a relaxed mood with the president “salute” “The Ultimate Floridian” Marco Rubio, or Fox News Style Closing Recently adopted anchor, critics slam show “National Television” although The audience has exited.
After CBS News, it raised more questions about how Weiss might be using her thumb to push the administration forward. published an anonymous report The ICE officer who shot Renee Goode “suffered internal bleeding from his torso after the incident.”
The report, which quoted two unnamed “U.S. officials who briefed him on his medical condition,” quickly attracted widespread attention within MAGA media circles, particularly because it matched the White House’s account of the shooting.
The Guardian Later reported The report was met with skepticism not only by media observers but also by networks and was met with “huge internal concern” by some.
Weiss, meanwhile, “expressed a high level of interest in this story” during an editorial call Wednesday morning.
A CBS source told The Washington Post: “There was a huge internal disagreement here last night regarding the ‘internal bleeding’ report.” The Guardian. “This was viewed as a thinly veiled anonymous leak [the Trump administration] To those who will carry it online. “
it Not lost on media analysts Despite concerns about the source, Weiss pushed for the “Internal Bleeding” story to be published as quickly as possible, while insisting that the “Inside CECOT” story was “not ready” to air.
“This vague, anonymous source was clearly appropriate for a story that served the Trump administration’s political purposes,” Too Much TV writer Rick Ellis observed. “But given that Weiss has argued that months-long footage of CECOT torture cannot be aired unless the Trump administration responds on camera, it feels as though there are two sets of rules for good journalism at CBS News.”
Ellis added that CBS News insiders told him that while reporters who reported on the “internal bleeding” story wanted to wait for more details, “higher ups in the news department pressed for the story to be published.” Finally, he noted that these insiders believe this is yet another sign that “Weiss and her newly appointed cronies are trying to use the news department as a propaganda tool under the guise of improving the quality of journalism.”