In what many have described as a heavily edited 60 Minutes interview, his first appearance on the show in five years, Donald Trump boasted that the network «paid him a lot of money» after a 16-million-dollar settlement with CBS News, which he had sued for allegedly editing an interview with Kamala Harris when she was running against him for president.
Trump also pushed for more aggressive ICE raids while waving a document listing wars he claimed to have ended.
While the interview aired on 60 Minutes, some of Trump’s remarks, including those claims, were omitted from the televised segment and appeared only in the extended version and full transcript released afterward.
«You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.»
-Donald Trump
The CBS Settlement and Trump’s Media Grievance
In his first appearance on 60 Minutes in five years, Donald Trump revisited his long-standing feud with CBS News.
«You don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you … But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me … a lot of money…»
The president boasted about a 16-million-dollar settlement the network reportedly paid him after he sued over what he called a «dishonestly edited» interview with Kamala Harris during her presidential campaign against him.
Trump said: «Actually 60 Minutes paid me a lot of money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you … But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me … a lot of money because they took [Kamala Harris’] answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing, two nights before the election. And they paid me a lotta money for that. You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.»
CBS and 60 Minutes publicly denied Trump’s allegations in multiple news reports covering the settlement, maintaining that the Kamala Harris interview was edited according to standard journalistic practices and not in a misleading or malicious manner.
ICE Raids and a Hardline Immigration Stance
One of the most contentious moments came when Trump defended recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that had sparked widespread outrage.
«No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back … by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.»
The interviewer cited footage showing ICE agents using tear gas in a residential neighborhood, smashing car windows, and an incident where a mother was pushed to the ground by an agent while clutching her child during an arrest, asking whether the operations had “gone too far.”
Trump shot back:
«No. I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back … by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama.»
In fact, some of the judges overseeing immigration cases were appointed by Trump himself.
He added: «Yeah, because you have to get the people out … Many of them are murderers … many of them are people that were thrown outta their countries because they were … criminals.»
Data from Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security show that the majority of migrants targeted in recent ICE raids had no criminal record.
The exchange underscored Trump’s push for more aggressive deportations while blaming federal judges for limiting ICE’s reach, comments that quickly drew backlash across political and humanitarian circles.
«I’ve stopped six wars. I’m averaging about a war a month.»
-Donald Trump
A president of peace?
At another point, Trump held up a sheet of paper that he said listed the wars he had ended, declaring himself a president of peace. «I’ve stopped six wars. I’m averaging about a war a month,» Trump claimed, referring broadly to conflicts involving Iran, Israel, and other regions.
Fact-checkers later found no evidence to support most of those assertions, though his delivery, confident and dramatic, fit the showman style that has long defined his public persona.
During the interview, journalist Norah O’Donnell offered little fact-checking or pushback against Trump’s false or misleading statements, a lack of challenge that many critics quickly pointed out on social media.
