Trump ducks out of traditional '60 Minutes' candidate interview: CBS

Former President Donald Trump has pulled out of the traditional presidential candidate interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," the network revealed in a Tuesday post to X. Vice President Kamala Harris is still set to sit for hers.

This came after reports that the candidates had planned to give interviews to the program that would air on the same day.

"60 Minutes is scheduled to air a primetime election special on a Monday edition of the broadcast on October 7 at 8 PM," said the 60 Minutes account. "For over half a century, 60 Minutes has invited the Democratic and Republican tickets to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls. This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes. Vice President Harris will speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker. After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate. Pelley will address this Monday evening."

"Our election special will broadcast the Harris interview on Monday as planned," the statement concluded. "Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on 60 Minutes stands."

ALSO READ: The NYT just set itself on fire

In a response, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung denied that there had ever been a commitment to the interview in the first place.

"Fake News. 60 Minutes begged for an interview, even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop back in 2020. There were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented."

Trump's previous "60 Minutes" interview as a candidate in 2020, with Lesley Stahl, was widely considered disastrous. The former president tried to get out ahead of the interview by threatening to leak footage of it ahead of time.

All of this comes as CBS is set to moderate the vice presidential debate beyween Gov. Tim Walz (DFL-MN) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH). The affair has already generated some controversy due to CBS' decision, amid outrage from Republicans over how frequently Trump was corrected by moderators in the previous debate, to take a hands-off approach on fact-checking.