Author Scott Pelley’s opening criticism on 60 Minutes of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks drew a sweeping attack from Team Trump and allies of the former president as another reason Republicans should boycott the once-important show.
In an awkward but pointed start, Pelley opened the show with a blast at Trump’s picks as lacking experience before moving to a totally unrelated story.
“This past week, Republicans won the House majority, and President-elect Trump made nominations to his Cabinet. Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump,” said Pelley.
“It’s up to the new Republican majority in the Senate to decide whether these nominees are equipped to represent the American people,” he concluded after blasting Trump’s picks of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, former Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of National Intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, and Fox News’s Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.
This is exactly why we rebuffed @60Minutes for an interview during the campaign.
Their disgusting bias & unhinged “reporting” are out of touch with everyday Americans who voted for President Trump.
60 Minutes is an out-dated relic of the past. CANCEL!pic.twitter.com/42bTKUsLwH
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung) November 18, 2024
Trump aides and allies came out immediately, barrels blazing.
“Their disgusting bias & unhinged ‘reporting’ are out of touch with everyday Americans who voted for President Trump. 60 Minutes is an out-dated relic of the past. CANCEL!” said Steven Cheung, who was tapped as Trump’s communications director.
.@60Minutes slammed Pete Hegseth tonight for having “no government experience”
NEWSFLASH: The Pentagon is full of people with decades of “government experience” and they just failed their 7th audit in a row.
The American people re-elected President Trump with a resounding… https://t.co/EFcgIPBzIB
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) November 18, 2024
Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote, “@60Minutes slammed Pete Hegseth tonight for having ‘no government experience’ NEWSFLASH: The Pentagon is full of people with decades of ‘government experience and they just failed their 7th audit in a row.”
To lead into a #60Minutes story on the still ongoing search for 9/11 remains, Scott Pelley denounced Trump’s cabinet picks: “Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump” and “with no government experience.” pic.twitter.com/VCYYUhO5Y0
— Brent Baker
(@BrentHBaker) November 18, 2024
Brent H. Baker of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog, noted the awkward positioning on X, saying, “To lead into a #60Minutes story on the still ongoing search for 9/11 remains, Scott Pelley denounced Trump’s cabinet picks: ‘Some nominees appear to have no compelling qualifications other than loyalty to Trump’ and ‘with no government experience.’”
I saw this live and laughed out loud. No organization disgraced itself more this election than CBS News (though it was close.)https://t.co/eTdfejMaAA
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) November 18, 2024
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Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics said, “I saw this live and laughed out loud. No organization disgraced itself more this election than CBS News (though it was close.)”
In October, the show was criticized for editing an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris that appeared to clean up one of her famous word salads.
