Overview
- Tony Dokoupil’s Jan. 13 sit-down with President Trump aired from a Ford factory in Dearborn, running roughly 14 uninterrupted minutes without commercial breaks or apparent edits.
- Trump told the new anchor he “wouldn’t have this job” if Kamala Harris had won in 2024, and when Dokoupil briefly pushed back at the end, Trump replied, “Yeah, but at a lesser salary.”
- The interview covered the economy, the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, protests in Iran and Trump’s criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom he called “either corrupt or incompetent.”
- Media watchers and viewers faulted Dokoupil for limited pushback and highlighted moments where Trump lectured him on “mentioning the other side,” intensifying scrutiny of the show’s editorial posture.
- Nielsen data show Dokoupil’s first week averaged about 4.166 million viewers, down versus a year earlier, as CBS rolls out a multi-city “Live From America” tour under Weiss following ownership changes tied to Skydance.