Pelley Will Be Remembered as a Beacon of Integrity
While his bosses look (to varying degrees) like bumblers, cowards or corporate tools, Pelley will be remembered as a beacon of integrity

It's hard to overstate the impact of "60 Minutes" on journalism. It's the most-watched television-news program in America. Since its debut on CBS in 1968, it's been the home of some of the most-storied broadcast journalists, from Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley to Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper and, until this past week, Scott Pelley.
While his bosses look (to varying degrees) like bumblers, cowards or corporate tools, Pelley will be remembered as a beacon of integrity
Markwayne Mullin may have been brought in to straighten out the Department of Homeland Security following former Secretary Kristi Noem's tenure, but a new report shows that Mullin may be more of the same, according to one legal expert. The Independent reported in late May that Mullin regularly uses a controversial $70 million Gulfstream jet to fly home to Oklahoma on Thursdays and doesn't return to work until Monday afternoon, meaning he works at most three days a week in Washington, D.C. The aircraft includes a queen bed, a bar, and showers, according to the report. It was one of nine jets the Trump administration approved to purchase with funds meant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it added. Legal expert Shant Karnikian discussed the report during a new episode of the podcast, "Civil Action," on Sunday. "We'll see how long this lasts," Karnikian said of Mullin's tenure in the Trump administration. "This is apparently the swamp draining that Donald Trump had in mind."Mullin was brought in to replace Noem after the former secretary publicly undercut President Donald Trump about funding for advertising campaigns featuring Noem. While Mullin told Senators during his confirmation hearing that he would help get Homeland Security back on track, some of his actions seem to suggest otherwise. For instance, Mullin has called for ICE to return to its old training methods that were curtailed following months of violent clashes between federal agents and protesters. Mullin has also been combative with lawmakers who have questioned his leadership at the department. Karnikian estimated that Mullin's use of a government jet to travel home is "50-times" more expensive than if he flew commercial with the same schedule. "The outrageous part of this is not, ' Oh, it's so much money, and this is so extravagant, blah blah blah.' That is a problem with most of the country struggling to fly around like that and avail yourself of those amenities," he said.
Iran's participation has become one of the most complex stories of the tournament.
Mr. Pelley, who was at CBS News for 37 years, including as a White House correspondent and a “60 Minutes” correspondent, spoke in his first extended interview since he was fired.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) on Sunday criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for making “inappropriate” remarks during a speech for the 82nd commemoration of D-Day. “I think it should have been about their sacrifice, their service to their country, and what they did to protect the free world at a time of great peril against Nazi…
The broadcast journalist who stood up to CBS News' increasingly pro-MAGA bias is now speaking out about his views on President Donald Trump and the First Amendment.Speaking with The New York Times in an interview released on Sunday, Pelley was asked about Trump referring to him as part of a gang of "stupid, crooked people that don’t care about your country.""Stupid? I can, I can take that," Pelley said. "Stiff? Yeah, probably. Don’t care about the country? I’ve never worn the uniform, but I’ve been in combat for this country, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kuwait. Been shot at. Spent nights in foxholes filling up with water in the desert. I’m not aware that the President of the United States has ever done any of those things for his country. Please correct me if I’m wrong."Pelley added, "You become a journalist because you love the First Amendment. You become a journalist because you love the country. And while all the other descriptions, that the president used about me might be applicable. Not that one. There is no democracy without journalism. It can’t be done. And that is why I am a journalist."When asked about the future of CBS News in the aftermath of his departure, Pelley said that he hopes it will prompt Larry and David Ellison, the two pro-Trump CEOs of Paramount, to reevaluate their gutting of the venerable news network."My hope is that the leadership of Paramount will say to themselves, 'OK, this isn’t working,'" Pelley told The New York Times. "We have respected journalists saying that there is a thumb on the scale for one political party over another. And there’s a subtle political bias that I’ve never seen at '60 Minutes' before or at CBS News before. We can save this. It’s possible to land this plane, but right now, CBS News, in my view, is on fire."Pelley is not alone in worrying that the Ellisons are kowtowing to Trump at the expense of CBS News' integrity. Earlier this month Steve Schmidt, an ex-GOP presidential adviser who worked for President George W. Bush, echoed those arguments."There are many words that can be used to describe 60 Minutes: Venerable. August. Excellent. Important. Beloved,” Schmidt wrote. “But since the purchase of CBS News by the Ellison family, another word belongs on the list: Sabotaged.”Schmidt added that the program has been “assaulted with malicious intent by new corporate leadership that appears determined to gut one of the last remaining institutions in American journalism in order to satisfy a corrupt political arrangement with Donald Trump.”He continued, “The destruction isn’t accidental. It’s deliberate. It’s strategic. It’s ideological. It’s transactional.” Instead of being a serious program where facts and credibility were valued, it has instead started to pride itself on pleasing the president.“That is what is being destroyed for no reason beyond the insatiability of Trump’s ego," Schmidt concluded.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged European leaders on Saturday to remain vigilant against the threat of what he described as “dangerous ideologies” coming to the continent, invoking the lessons of D-Day to warn about modern-day immigration. “In the years since these beaches, much of the West, in some places, in some quarters, and in…