Overview
- Pressed by Norah O’Donnell on viral footage of aggressive arrests, President Trump defended ICE tactics, said operations have not gone far enough, and blamed constraints on “liberal judges” appointed by Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
- Trump asserted that many people being removed are criminals, saying “many of them are murderers,” after O’Donnell cited cases including a mother tackled in a Manhattan courthouse and tear gas used in a Chicago neighborhood.
- CBS aired roughly 28 minutes of a sit-down taped Oct. 31, then posted a 73-minute extended video and full transcript, revealing unaired lines such as Trump’s boast that “60 Minutes paid me a lotta money” and claims the 2020 election was “rigged.”
- The editing choices drew criticism from across the spectrum, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer floating an FCC complaint and a spokesperson for FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez saying the cuts could qualify as news distortion under a Trump-era standard.
- The interview was Trump’s first with 60 Minutes since Paramount settled his 2024 lawsuit for $16 million, as intensified ICE operations continue to face nationwide protests and court rulings that have limited parts of the enforcement push.