Hostage situation, bomb threat reported at California Chase Bank; President Trump names controversial new acting director of national intelligence.
Veteran CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley has been fired from the network following an explosive confrontation with CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over new leadership at 60 Minutes. Pelley, a correspondent for 60 Minutes since 2004 and one of the most recognizable faces in broadcast journalism, was terminated effective immediately on Tuesday after a contentious […]
Challenger to Susan Collins has already cited PTSD for bigoted online posts and covered up Nazi tattooMidterm primaries – live results and updatesKey Democratic leaders appeared to continue their support for embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Tuesday after meetings in Washington DC.Platner is contending with yet another revelation – this time about sexually explicit texts with women outside of his marriage – threatening his campaign, which is at the center of his party’s hopes of regaining control of Congress. Continue reading...
Veteran journalist Scott Pelley, one of the faces of the iconic news program "60 Minutes," was fired from the program Tuesday, according to a publicized letter from CBS.Pelley is a decades-long CBS News veteran and former anchor of the CBS Evening News. His firing comes amid a broader upheaval at "60 Minutes" after CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, appointed by David Ellison, the tech scion who took control of CBS parent company Paramount in a multibillion-dollar merger, dismissed top producers and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega in what colleagues called "Black Thursday.""Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear," Nick Bilton, the executive producer of "60 Minutes," wrote in a termination letter to Pelley. Journalist Dylan Byers shared the letter on X."I have heard you, and I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. ("CBS") to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately," Bilton wrote.Pelley reportedly erupted at Weiss during a heated meeting and told her she was "murdering 60 Minutes" after she fired Alfonsi and others. He also reportedly raked Bilton over the coals."You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me," Bilton wrote, saying Pelley "chose to ambush" him.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Tuesday, readers! With the help of our editor, Joe Lawler, today’s edition of Daily on Energy kicks off with the latest update in the Trump administration’s battle against the offshore wind industry. 🌬️⚡ The administration is facing a lawsuit from several Democratic-led states, which claim that the administration’s […]
The fight inside 60 Minutes is tearing CBS News’s venerated broadcast to shreds.A staff editorial meeting reportedly flew off the rails Monday morning when longtime host Scott Pelley tore into Bari Weiss’s new pick to run the news magazine as its new executive producer: Nick Bilton, a former Vanity Fair writer with next to no formal experience in broadcast journalism.Weiss announced Bilton’s hire the same day that she fired a large swath of the show’s crew, which some at 60 Minutes are referring to as “Black Thursday.” The axed staff include correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi (who criticized Weiss’s decision to delay Alfonsi’s report on a notoriously brutal CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador), correspondent Cecilia Vega, executive producer Tanya Simon, and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich.The meeting was intended to introduce Bilton to the show’s team, though Weiss herself was conspicuously absent. With the chief of CBS News missing, the meeting devolved into hostilities, including one particularly heated moment in which Pelley accused Weiss of “murdering” the show, according to audio of the meeting obtained by Status News.“Bari loves this institution,” Bilton told staffers during the meeting. “She loves 60 Minutes.”“She’s murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley countered. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it—and she’s doing exactly that.”“You come into our house and expect to be welcome?” Pelley asked Bilton. “Why was Tanya Simon fired? Why was Sharyn fired? Why was Cecilia fired? Why Draggan? Do you know the names of the people that were fired?” He openly questioned Bilton’s credentials and said, “We don’t trust you.”CBS News managing editor Charles Forelle attempted to intervene in the exchange to no avail. The exchange reportedly left staffers wondering whether Pelley would resign from his post, reported Status.Bilton, nonetheless, did not have satisfactory answers for the producers and crew, according to two staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Washington Post. At one point, he unintentionally made staffers laugh out loud when he claimed he would bring in people who are already capable of doing the work of a 60 Minutes correspondent, one of the most revered jobs in the industry.When asked if the show could expect more layoffs, Bilton said, “Not right now.”Weiss has only been in charge of CBS News for seven months, but her business decisions have already cratered its legendary reputation. Once the “gold standard” of broadcasting, and home to some of journalism’s most venerable names, such as Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow, the outlet is now making news for all of the wrong reasons.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that Bill Pulte, a “home-building heir” who currently oversees the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would step in as acting Director of National Intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. The decision has drawn swift bipartisan criticism over Pulte’s total lack of experience and what is viewed as an effort to “weaponize” the U.S. intelligence apparatus. "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there," declared Senator Majority Leader John Thune (R-SC). “If he's somebody we want in that position permanently, he's got a lengthy road ahead of him.”Fears over weaponization stem from Pulte’s previous efforts to target Trump’s enemies. As the head of the FHFA, he used his position to suggest criminal charges for mortgage fraud against the likes of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook — all of whom drew the president’s ire over various incidents.With all this in mind, Senator Mark Warner, a top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, shared Thune’s sentiments, blasting at length: “This appointment speaks volumes about what this president expects from the nation's top intelligence official. Rather than selecting a respected national security professional capable of delivering independent judgments, the president has chosen an official who has demonstrated not just willingness but eagerness to use the authorities of government to pursue political retribution.”“Americans have already seen Mr. Pulte use the powers of his office at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue the president's grievances and lend credibility to dubious prosecutions of President Trump's perceived political opponents,” Warner continued. “Elevating him to oversee the Intelligence Community makes clear that this president is not looking for an intelligence leader who will follow the facts or speak truth to power, but rather someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president's wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people.”What’s more, Warner took issue with Pulte’s bona fides, or lack thereof, arguing, "The concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the ‘extensive national security experience' required by statute for the job, which was created after intelligence failures led to the deaths of thousands of Americans on 9/11. It is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need. Americans have every reason to worry about what happens when the official charged with overseeing everything from counterterrorism to foreign election threats is chosen for his willingness to advance the president's political agenda rather than his experience. That is how intelligence becomes politicized, how inconvenient facts disappear, how agencies charged with protecting our democracy instead become tools to manipulate it, and how Americans are left more vulnerable to a terrorist attack."Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) put it more simply: “I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job.” And Senator Angus King (Independent-ME), who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, rounded things out, “By any objective assessment — in terms of experience, expertise, background — this appointment makes no sense.”Journalist Chris Hayes summed up the collective assessment well, posting, “This is so utterly insane I’m at a loss. But it makes sense if you want to turn the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus into a tool for domestic persecution and domination.”
The hits keep coming for Graham Platner, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in the race for one of Maine's U.S. Senate seats.On Monday the women of "The View" trashed Platner's campaign and said he has no business being anywhere near Congress after grappling with so many scandals.'You’ve shown me who you are, and I heard you. This man should be nowhere near Congress.'The most recent revelation that Platner, who is married, sent sexually explicit messages to at least half a dozen women in recent years is just the latest sting for his campaign."On the heels of apologizing for a tattoo associated with Nazis, the offensive posts about a wounded U.S. soldier. Now his wife, Amy Gertner, is responding to reports that she gave his campaign a heads-up about her husband sending sexually explicit texts to several different women," said Whoopi Goldberg."Horrible. There is no doubt that this guy, Platner, is flawed, flawed, flawed in many ways," added Ana Navarro. "It is disturbing, and it is horrible. And why can't we do better? Why can't we have better candidates?""This guy just seems like a guy of not very good character," said former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin. "Don't die on the hill of a guy who's going to be a headache for you for years to come."Sara Haines took special offense to Platner previously saying a U.S. soldier should have died on the battlefield."If you are capable of saying that at any time in your life, you’ve shown me who you are, and I heard you. This man should be nowhere near Congress. We’ve already got a wealth of people we need out. We’re not sending one like this in.""So he's a cheater," added Sunny Hostin. "He's an anti-Semite — because the fact that he had that tattoo for 20 years and didn't know what it was is a lie. So he's a liar, a racist, an anti-Semite; he's a homophobe. So he's all the things. And character does matter."Hostin also did not accept Platner's excuse that his racist comments were caused by post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in combat as a Marine."I know a lot of soldiers that have PTSD that aren't racist," she said.However, despite all of the problems they cited with Platner, Hostin went on to say they needed the victory in Maine to take control of the Senate away from Republicans. The Republican Party in Maine posted clips of the most critical comments in a video that was widely circulated on social media. RELATED: Trans-identifying 15-year-old plotted to kill classmate in order to resurrect Newtown shooter In response to the sexting scandal, Platner's wife put out a video calling the story "gossip" and trying to downplay it. Many described her video as uncomfortable to watch.Platner is presumed to be the Democratic nominee to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has been criticized by many in her own party for being moderate and centrist. Platner's main Democratic rival, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
A media expert warned CBS chief Bari Weiss on Tuesday night that she just set off an "underwater earthquake" at her network by showing veteran journalist Scott Pelley the door. Brian Stelter, CNN's chief media analyst, told Kaitlan Collins on "The Source" that Pelley's firing likely won't go over well within the CBS newsroom and could lead to a costly legal battle. In the termination letter, CBS Executive Producer Nick Bolton said Pelley was dismissed "for cause," which he can challenge in court. "This is like an underwater earthquake at CBS News. It's not going to be visible on TV right away, but this is bound to have many ripple effects and maybe a legal battle," Stelter said. Pelley had been a journalist with CBS News for more than four decades before he was dismissed on Tuesday. His firing came just one day after Pelley confronted CBS News leadership in a staff meeting and accused them of "murdering" the flagship show, "60 Minutes." "Yesterday’s performative display of hostility — enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation — demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress,” Bolton wrote in the letter.