The Federal Communications Commission has released the full transcript of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes” from October.
Reading through it, it’s not hard to see why CBS and the Harris campaign wouldn’t want the entire interview available.
The New York Times reported on the release of the transcript on Wednesday, noting several responses by Harris were cut down substantially, for example when she was asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A preview of her response was shown to be 21 seconds, but it was cut to seven in the final interview.
President Donald Trump‘s campaign sued CBS, arguing the interview was edited in a manner tantamount to election interference. CBS argued it was simply editing down the footage for airing purposes.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted about the release on the social media platform X on Wednesday, stating a News Distortion complaint had been filed.
CBS provided the FCC with unredacted video & a transcript of VP Harris’s ‘60 Minutes’ interview in response to the FCC’s review of a News Distortion complaint.
CBS did not ask for confidential or non-public treatment of these materials.
Given the value of transparency & the…
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) February 5, 2025
Carr stated with this release, “The people will have a chance to weigh in.”
Should the interview have been available when it was recorded?
The entire video of the interview can be seen below.
In the spirit of Carr’s statement, the reader can decide from the transcript and footage just how distorted the October interview looks in hindsight.
The edited interview can be found here for comparison.
The full interview appears to be quintessential Harris — long-winded word salads that dance around a question rather than giving a direct answer.
For the conservative viewer, the takeaway might be that this is more of the same and CBS is trying to cover for a candidate struggling to articulate a clear message and state what exactly her platform is a month before election day.
But consider how an edited interview would look to the politically uninitiated or undecided voter.
A carefully curated depiction of the former vice president very well may have been the tipping point for some of those people.
FCC Democratic Commissioner Anna M. Gomez stated, “Having now seen these materials, I see no reason to continue pursuing this investigation. The F.C.C. should now move to dismiss this fishing expedition to avoid further politicizing our enforcement actions.”
Trump and his supporters could very well argue the editions made already politicized the occasion.
Carr is correct to release the transcript and full interview. The public deserve to know the truth.
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