Former “60 Minutes” host Scott Pelley released a statement Wednesday claiming that CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss lied about the circumstances behind his firing. Pelley’s second statement following […]
Trump confirmed calling Netanyahu 'f---ing crazy' during a heated phone call over Israel's military operations in Lebanon, exposing a rare rift.
Donald Trump's imploding festival commemorating America's 250th anniversary has sparked an inquest inside the White House over a 'grossly negligent' decision.
Secretary of State Rubio calls allegations that Trump considered personal finances in Iran decisions "completely false" during heated House hearing.
SCOTUS delivered yet another crushing blow to voting rights on Tuesday night, issuing a 6–3 decision over the shadow docket.
Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson raised questions about New Jersey Democratic congressional candidate Adam Hamawy and his ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Benson argued that Hamawy’s earlier legal and international work revelations could pose political problems for Democrats. In 1994, Hamawy volunteered in Bosnia with a Chicago-based nonprofit group called the “Benevolence International […]
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calf.) hammered Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he appeared in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday over questions about President Donald Trump's fitness for office. Rubio's reactions led Lieu to claim he was lying under oath. Lieu showed the footage of the December Cabinet meeting in which Trump appeared to doze off next to Rubio. "Oh my God," Rubio could be heard saying.Lieu asked whether Rubio had "been at more than one meeting where President Trump was asleep.""That's false," Rubio said. "That's false. I've never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at two in the morning. He calls me at five in the morning. And, you know, I like to sleep a little bit. You know, not 12 hours, but at least six."Trump's insomnia was addressed by CNN medical expert Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Reiner said that chronic insomnia can be “a severe illness," in large part because it can add "about 3-1/2 years to one’s age and [contribute] to a decline in mental functions.""Secretary Rubio, I'm going to show you in a moment that you just lied to Congress," Lieu cut in."Oh, ok," Rubio said. "This is a Cabinet meeting from last month where Donald Trump is sleeping while you are talking. Please show this video," Lieu said. "You are literally talking about issues of war and peace, and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you."Rubio denied it again. Trump's disappearance from public view is raising questions, as he hasn't held any events or press conferences in about a week. Trump did speak to the New York Post on Tuesday in a interview that revealed a new medical malady."If Donald Trump cannot stay awake at these important meetings where the cameras are rolling, can you imagine what he is like when the cameras are not there? Have you been at classified meanings were Donald Trump has fallen asleep?" the congressman asked. Rubio replied again that he'd never been in any meeting in which Trump fell asleep. "So, you are lying again? Lying consistently to Congress," Lieu responded.He went on to say that Trump's drowsiness "caused other countries to perceive him differently." He claimed that Trump is mocked as "weak and feeble."Lieu then showed a clip from the French News in which Trump appears to fall asleep at a Memorial Day ceremony last month. His eyes appeared to be closed for a large portion of the ceremony. "There's something wrong with his cognitive acts, and the fact that on a number of occasions Donald Trump will contradict himself and literally — in literally the same meeting or interview," Lieu continued. He showed another clip in which Trump "says the Iranian military is both destroyed and not destroyed at the same time."Lieu closed by praising Rubio, saying that he's done a lot to travel around the world and trying to clean up the "mess that was left to you."
I was a news junkie long before it was cool — was it ever cool? — or even common.Growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I was probably the only kid on my block, maybe in the entire city and state, who planted himself in front of the television every night to watch Walter Cronkite on CBS News. When I was about eight years old, I could even do an impression of him, articulating his famous sign-off, “And that’s the way it is.” I can still do it today, though you have to be someone of a certain age to appreciate it.I had a fixation with presidents, with war, with history, and nobody delivered the news with more authority, more gravitas, or more sheer trustworthiness than Cronkite. It wasn’t just my opinion. Year after year, he was named the most trusted man in America. When he retired in 1981, I was in high school, and it felt like a seismic event. A seminal moment. Who in God’s name could ever replace the God of the evening news, Walter Cronkite? Dan Rather stepped in and did a terrific job. Now it’s anchored by the woefully incompetent Tony Dokoupil. Who? Exactly. This neophyte wouldn’t have been qualified to be Cronkite’s junior intern.But my devotion to Cronkite was only the beginning. There was also 60 Minutes. I watched that too, for as long as I can remember. Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley were my guys. And I loved Andy Rooney. I can do his impression too, but again, no one knows who he is anymore.The fearlessness and tenacity of the show’s correspondents, and their refusal to let the powerful off the hook, were legendary. It was what journalism looked like at its absolute finest.It was perhaps the love for Cronkite and 60 Minutes that drove me into media and public relations, where I spent 30 years working with hundreds of reporters and media outlets. For a long time in PR, we had two holy grails — a front-page story in the New York Times and a segment on 60 Minutes, positive ones, of course. I was fortunate enough to land five front-page Times stories over my career and one 60 Minutes segment in 1999, tied to Y2K preparedness. Which makes what is happening right now to that network all the more gut-wrenching.Since the loathsome Bari Weiss took over CBS News and Donald Trump began his assault on Black Rock, the nickname for the former CBS headquarters, the network has been in a death spiral of its own making. Weiss has no business running a major network news division. Under her watch, CBS News has become a shadow of itself, and its anchor has devolved into little more than Trump state television. The news division is collapsing at breathtaking speed.And then there’s the tragedy occurring at the beloved 60 Minutes.60 Minutes debuted in 1968 and became, arguably, the most important television program in American history, and remains that today. And, not just in news, but in the entirety of television. Year after year, it ranks among the most-watched programs on the air. It broke stories that changed the country. It featured the most iconic correspondents in broadcast history. It was appointment television, 7 PM on Sunday night, or whenever the late NFL game ended in the fall, you made sure you were parked in front of your set. You were spellbound.It’s now in a freefall.Weiss shockingly dumped the show’s long-time veteran and executive producer, Tanya Simon, and appointed Nick Bilton, a technologist with no traditional broadcast experience, to lead 60 Minutes. He subsequently fired veteran producers and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. The decision caused intense internal backlash, and that’s putting it mildly. It's being murdered, and I’m not the one using such draconian terms. And those firings were only the beginning.Scott Pelley, the former CBS News anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent, blew up — and rightly so — this week, tearing into the new leadership of 60 Minutes, calling out the way staff have been treated, the firings, the gutting of the show’s editorial independence. He said Weiss was “murdering” the show. After sticking up for his show, and his colleagues, Pelley was fired, and simultaneously proven wrong. The Trump/CBS paramilitary isn’t murdering the show. They are executing it.Steve Kroft, another legendary 60 Minutes correspondent and my “friend” from the Y2K days, was more blunt, more direct, and more correct. He said, “I never expected it would be executed by the President of the United States.”Trump is doing to 60 Minutes what he did to Stephen Colbert and the CBS Evening News.This trifecta represents the cowardice at CBS toward Trump. It is a direct testament to how thoroughly Paramount and CBS have prostrated themselves before Donald Trump. Here’s the business reality that CBS executives apparently cannot grasp: everyone who has ever bowed down to Donald Trump eventually gets kicked in the teeth. Trump never rewards loyalty. Ever.
Reinvention doesn't have to mean replacement. The challenge for Weiss now is figuring out how to harness that expertise rather than alienate it. And the firing of Scott Pelley raises the stakes considerably.