White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Tony Dokoupil and an executive producer of CBS Evening News that the president would “sue your ass off” if his Tuesday interview with the anchor was not aired in full, according to The New York Times.
After the interview was taped, Leavitt relayed a message from Trump to Dokoupil and CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey. “He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt said, per a recording obtained by the Times.
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Dokoupil responded, to which Leavitt added, “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”
“Oh, great, OK!” Harvey replied according to the outlet, while Dokoupil, “in a light tone,” said, “He always says that!” The Times noted that Leavitt “did not laugh” at his reply.
In a statement, CBS News said they were always planning to air Dokoupil’s full interview with President Trump. “The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” they said in a Saturday statement.
Trump notably sued CBS, which was settled by parent company Paramount Global in a $16 million payout, over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
His lawsuit against CBS claimed “deceptive doctoring” in Harris’ 60 Minutes interview. Before the settlement, legal observers’ predicted that the suit would be dismissed due to industry norms pertaining to interview editing. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter Paramount believed the lawsuit could deter Skydance’s deal to acquire the company, which required regulatory approval, including the transfer of FCC licenses. The merger was later approved in August 2025.
The network was also recently criticized for pulling a planned 60 Minutes report in December about the “brutal and tortuous conditions” at an El Salvador prison where the Trump administration had deported alleged illegal immigrants. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who was slated into the role by new Paramount CEO David Ellison, defended the decision, claiming the story “was not ready.”
“I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready,” she said in an editorial call on Dec. 22. “While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball—the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
In Dokoupil’s CBS Evening News interview with Trump, the president said the anchor “wouldn’t have a job” if he hadn’t won the 2024 election.
“You wouldn’t have this job, certainly, whatever the hell they’re paying you. Our country is rocketing right now. If they got in, we would be Venezuela on steroids,” Trump said. Dokoupil later pushed back on his claims, noting, “I do think I’d have this job even if the other guys won.”
“Yeah, but at a lesser salary,” Trump replied.
