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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, has called for CBS News staff who criticized the network's decision to pull a segment of 60 Minutes from Sunday's episode to be fired.
"Every one of those producers at 60 Minutes engaged in this revolt—fire them. Clean house. Fire them. That's what I say," Miller told Fox News on Tuesday.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment.
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Why It Matters
The removal of a 60 Minutes segment called "Inside CECOT," which featured interviews with Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison, has cast a new light on simmering tensions between the White House and the news media.
The president has had a tumultuous relationship with the press, especially since the beginning of his second mandate, receiving a settlement of $16 million from Paramount earlier this year over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
Weiss' decision to pull the segment, which contained criticism of the Trump administration's anti-immigration crackdown, was seen by critics as an attempt to avoid antagonizing the president, especially at a time when Paramount has launched a hostile bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, circumventing a rival offer by streaming behemoth Netflix.
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What To Know
The 13-minute segment was pulled three hours before being broadcast.
Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News, requested numerous changes to the segment, saying the story was not ready, The New York Times reported. A CBS News spokesperson later said the segment needed "additional reporting."
Among Weiss' suggestions was adding an interview with Miller or a similarly high-ranking Trump administration official, according to the Times.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who conducted the report, pushed back on Weiss' explanation, saying in a private note to CBS News colleagues on Sunday that the story was ready and had been cleared by attorneys at the network, and that requests for comment sent to the White House, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security had not received a response.
"It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one," she said in the message, a copy of which was obtained by the Times.
"If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a 'kill switch' for any reporting they find inconvenient," Alfonsi added.
The segment has since appeared on the internet, causing further backlash against the network's decision to remove it.
Several veteran CBS News correspondents questioned Weiss' decision and her explanation for the move in a Monday afternoon meeting, the Times reported.
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On Tuesday night, Miller defended the Trump administration's decision to deport hundreds of Venezuelan men to El Salvador, alleging they were all murderers and rapists despite the fact that many of them did not have criminal records in the U.S. and had violated only immigration laws.
"These are monsters who got exactly what they deserved," Miller said on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime.
"Under President Trump, we're not going to let little girls get raped and murdered anymore. And every one of those producers at 60 Minutes engaged in this revolt—fire them," he continued.
According to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, about 240 Venezuelan men were deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March and sent to CECOT without trials, convictions or due process. Groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty have reported that prisoners inside the facility are denied communications with their attorneys or relatives and are largely mistreated.
What People Are Saying
Bari Weiss, CBS News' editor-in-chief, said in a statement on Sunday night: "My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren't ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it's ready."
Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who conducted the pulled report, said in a note sent to CBS colleagues that The New York Times obtained: "We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of 'gold standard' reputation for a single week of political quiet."
Anna M. Gomez, a member of the Federal Communications Commission, wrote on X: "In the days ahead, I hope CBS provides its viewers with a clear accounting of how this decision was made and demonstrates how it will safeguard the independence of its newsroom."
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote on X: "What is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson."
What Happens Next
Weiss has said the removed segment will air at a later date, though it remains unclear when—especially now that the segment has appeared online.
The backlash within CBS News, however, may continue. Sources at the company told CNN, "People are threatening to quit over this."
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