White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned CBS News that President Trump would sue the network if his recent interview was not aired in full, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times.
The remark came moments after Trump finished taping a 13-minute interview Tuesday with “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil in Michigan.
Leavitt approached the CBS team and relayed that the president wanted assurances the segment would run unedited, adding he would “sue your ass off” if it did not, according to The Times.
“He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt told Dokoupil and his colleagues, according to the recording.
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Dokoupil replied.
Leavitt added: “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”
CBS staffers who witnessed the interaction initially thought Leavitt was speaking in jest, according to The Times.
When CBS employees heard her comment, Kim Harvey, the executive producer of “CBS Evening News,” can be heard in audio obtained by The Times as saying: “Oh, great, OK!”
Dokoupil tried to lighten the mood, telling Leavitt: “He always says that!” according to the report.
But Leavitt did not laugh in response, it was reported.
During the interview, Trump took a personal swipe at Dokoupil, telling the newly minted anchor he “wouldn’t have a job right now” if former Vice President Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election.
Dokoupil pushed back, saying that “for the record,” he believed he would still be working at CBS regardless of the outcome, prompting Trump to quip the anchor would be earning “a lesser salary.”
CBS News later told the Times the network had already decided to air the interview in full before it was taped, and that Leavitt’s comments did not alter its editorial plans.
“The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” the network said in a statement, noting the full interview ran as planned on the “CBS Evening News” that night.
Leavitt confirmed The Times report, telling the newspaper: “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full.”
In 2024, Trump sued the network over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing CBS of deceptive editing.
Paramount, CBS News’ corporate parent at the time, ultimately agreed to a $16 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit, a decision that drew sharp criticism inside and outside the newsroom and has since loomed over editorial decisions involving Trump.
Shortly after the settlement, Paramount moved ahead with a long-anticipated deal to sell the company to Skydance Media, led by CEO David Ellison, a transaction that required regulatory approval from the Trump administration.
The timing fueled unease inside CBS News, where staffers privately worried corporate leadership might be incentivized to avoid confrontations with a president known for retaliating against unfavorable coverage.
In October, Ellison installed Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News, a move that represented a dramatic shift for a division that had never previously had a centralized editorial chief.
Weiss, a former New York Times opinion editor and founder of The Free Press, arrived with a mandate to reshape the newsroom’s culture and rebuild public trust — but her appointment immediately alarmed many journalists due to her lack of broadcast reporting experience.
Since taking the role, Weiss has exercised a far more hands-on approach than her predecessors, directly involving herself in sensitive editorial matters, including multiple “60 Minutes” investigations touching on the Trump administration.
Her interventions — most notably the decision to postpone a vetted report on migrants sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison — have been cited by critics as evidence that the legal settlement has cast a lasting shadow over CBS News’ most powerful franchise.
Ellison has publicly defended the changes, arguing legacy news outlets must evolve to survive and insisting Weiss is committed to editorial independence.
Inside CBS News, however, staffers have described plummeting morale, confusion over standards and a heightened sense of caution around coverage involving Trump.
The Post has sought comment from CBS News and the White House.
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