Transcription
This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we've got a major story right now because in the aftermath of Kla Harris sitting down for the program 60 Minutes, Donald Trump waged a 10 billion dollar lawsuit because he said that they edited the program and that was their way of interfering in the election.
Now, Donald Trump sits down with Norah O'Donnell for the same program. They shoot 73 minutes worth of footage and they air 28 minutes of those pieces of footage. And there were even some instances in the program where Donald Trump alludes to the fact that what he's saying likely won't even make the cut, putting on full display the the extent to which he knows that this is going to be edited.
Now, there was a big talking point that emerged online about this idea that if Donald Trump was establishing a precedent where he could sue the network for $10 billion because they edited a politician's interview, then the same thing could be done when he sits down with 60 Minutes and they edit that interview. So, can you talk about what legal basis this might have?
>> Look, the lawsuit that Donald Trump brought was And 60 Minutes didn't settle that lawsuit. CBS didn't settle that lawsuit because it was anything other than They settled the lawsuit because they wanted to put $16 million in his pocket.
>> Yeah.
>> Why? Because he was holding the keys to a merger that they were trying to get approved at the FCC. And so everybody just needs to recognize that this is not a question of a legitimate claim that created precedent. This was always a convenient way for the big wigs at 60 Minutes at Paramount and at the Acquirer Sky Dance to figure out how to get this thing approved. And the way to get it approved, like so many things with the Trump administration, is to financially benefit Donald Trump and his causes. So So that's what went on here.
Brian, there's a bigger scandal here than even the way you laid this out because, you know, 60 Minutes went to great pains to say, you know, we're going to publish all of the raw footage and we're going to publish the transcript. Well, it turns out that when you compare the transcript of the full 70 plus minutes and the footage of the 70 plus minutes, they don't match. There's actually even edits there that you only find in the transcript. So this whole thing is, as I wrote for Democracy Docket, CBS's way of sucking up to Donald Trump and obeying in advance. Like they went in every person there from Nor O'Donnell down to the editors and the producers, they all knew without having to be told by Barry Weiss, without having to be told by David Ellison, the billionaire who owns the place. They all knew that at the end of this, they needed a happy Donald Trump. They needed a guy who was going to be happy with the interview. And guess what? Towards the end of the interview, he says, "I'm happy with CBS and I'm happy with 60 Minutes." And so, mission accomplished, all you folks at at CBS News. Shame on you.
>> I should note, Mark, uh, that that you have Democracy Docket, which is the news outlet you founded to focus on everything voting and elections, it has exploded in popularity. Um, and so I would just note for anybody who's watching right now, if you're not yet signed up for Democracy Docket, this puts on full display why independent media is so important. So, I'm going to put that link right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. Legacy Media is showing us the extent to which they are willing to bend the knee to Donald Trump at every single turn. It's not just CBS, it's ABC News, it's Washington Post, it's the LA Times. And so, if you're looking for media that is actually willing to meet this moment with the urgency that it deserves, Democracy Docket is exactly that.
Mark, can you talk for a moment about the broader implications that this will have, that this move by CBS to keep Donald Trump happy in that interview will have in light of the fact that he is right now uh engaged in illegal troop deployments across the country. In light of the fact that he is right now withholding food assistance to people who are going hungry, in light of the fact that he's ensuring that people's health care costs are going to 2x or 3x or 4x or 5x from 2025 to 2026. that the that the interview that he would get by a legacy media outlet in the esteemed fourth estate would be such that he would leave explaining how happy he was.
>> Yeah. Look, it as you point out correctly, it's not just CBS, right? It's also ABC. Comcast, by the way, which owns NBC, you know, they made a big uh payment apparently to fund this ballroom that uh that he is building as he tears down the White House. Look, you can compare the treatment that Donald Trump got on 60 Minutes, which is supposed to be the toughest interview in town, right? Everybody knows 60 Minutes, they have the best researchers. They come loaded to bear. Compare how Donald Trump was treated to how Margaret Brennan treated Democrats who appeared on her show last Sunday or just next Sunday or the Sunday before that. Like just how Face the Nation treats a Democrat on any given Sunday. And you can see this across all the networks. The key here is that we need to build independent pro-democracy media outlets because these networks are are fundamentally compromised by the billionaires who own them, who have all kinds of reasons, billions of reasons to please Donald Trump. Whether it is Jeff Bezos and his Rockets who owns the Washington Post, whether it's the Ellison's who want to buy Warner Brothers now and also want to buy uh Tik Tok. Whether it's Comcast that also may want to buy Warner Brothers in a bidding war and and Donald Trump has said he doesn't like the the head of Comcast. So maybe they're going to try to suck up now like Disney at ABC News, who owns ABC News, uh you know, who's who's who has theme parks and other business before the federal government. they're trying to get done in terms of mergers and acquisitions. It's a corrupt business right now. It is not serving the public interest. It does not exist like it did 20, 30 years ago to keep people like you informed. It is people like Brian Tyler Cohen who are keeping people like you informed, which is why you need to subscribe to this YouTube channel. You need to not only subscribe, you need to hit the bell to make sure you are kept up to date whenever there's new content. It is the reason why I started Democracy Docket. You know, whatever else you have to say about Democracy Docket there. You know, there are no billionaires behind There's no corporation behind it. There's no venture capitalist behind it. It it is it is um transparently prodemocracy. So like you know that's what you're going to get. And and the same thing with Brian and the same thing by the way with Tim Miller and the Bullwwork. The same thing with with Jen Rubin and the Contrarian. I mean I could go on and on. Whatever is the right independent media source for you. Please subscribe to them and support them because it is your support that is going to build a a media ecosystem that will be able to continue to deliver the truth as the as the large media corporations, you know, sort of abandon their post.
To what extent are you worried when you hear stuff like the fact that Larry Ellison may be looking to consolidate even more control in the media landscape or that folks like Barry Weiss have been put in charge at at CBS or or that there's going to be more consolidation and that Tik Tok may be taken over by a right-wing consortium uh which of course you know Larry Ellison is is a part of. And so when you hear stuff like that, to what extent does that worry you about the future of this country recognizing the way that people get their media?
>> It's greatly concerning. I mean, you know, I mean, it's greatly concerning. We would be in a much better place if the large institutions that have told us for years that they stand up to power without without fear or favor. It would be it'd be better if they were doing the laboring work. It would be better if publications like Democracy Docket didn't have to grow as fast as it is or any of the other ones that I mentioned. You know, like I said, you can pick your pick your your uh pro-democracy independent media source. But you're seeing dramatic growth in this space because we all have to grow these media properties to pick up the slack that's being left as legacy outlets are, as you say, being bought up by right-wing owners. I mean, you look at CNN. I mean, CNN not that long ago, you know, two, four years ago, was providing fair balanced coverage. Then it got bought and by one of these conglomerates and it was told to move its coverage to the right. And honestly, first of all, who the hell watches CNN now? It's boring. It's not compelling television. But when you do turn it on, what you what do you have? You have Scott Jennings lying to you under the emperor of a paid CNN analyst. It's like this is not some guy off the street who like happens to be invited on once in a while. This is a guy who pedals lies for a living uh at the on the dime of CNN. So that's what you're supporting if you're supporting CNN.
>> Mark, what gives you hope in the media ecosystem recognizing the extent to which legacy media is kind of barreling downhill uh you know to to please right-wing politicians at the rate at which they are. What gives me hope is that you have 12 million subscribers across all your platforms, almost 5 million of them just on YouTube alone. I mean, that gives me hope. What gives me hope is that Democracy Docket is doubling and tripling its size um every year. And that gives me hope. What gives me hope is that there is actually a vibrant progressive pro-democracy media ecosystem that is developing. You know, like I said, and I'm going to say it again, the bull work doing great work. You know, the contrarian doing really important work. Let's not forget Pod Save America. You know, those guys have been at this for a long time and they're doing really important work in keeping people up to date on what is happening without corporate billionaires dictating one way or another what they have to cover. So my request for you is like I said, subscribe to this channel, hit the bell on this channel, and then pick one of the others. If you like Democracy Docket, go to democracydocket.com and subscribe or go to its YouTube channel. If you like the bull work, I love those guys. Go there. If you like Pod Save, please listen to their podcast. They're wonderful. You know, just support this ecosystem because it's going to be the only thing left when the right-wing billionaires have finished buying up all of the legacy outlets.
>> And I'm going to put the link to Democracy Docket right here on this screen and also in the post description of this video for all of the reasons that Mark just laid out. Uh, and of course the way in which we've all seen with our own eyes the extent to which the CBS's of the world, the 60 Minutes of the World continue to capitulate. Cowtow bend the knee to Donald Trump. All of those are reasons to support independent media. I would put Mark's outlet at the absolute top of that list. So again, that link is here on the screen, also in the post description. I'm Brian Taylor Cohen.
>> I'm Mark Elias.
>> This is Democracy Watch. [Music]