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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil that his interview this week with President Donald Trump needed to air in full or the network would have another lawsuit on its hands.
The New York Times obtained audio from the moments that followed Trump’s interview with Dokoupil in Michigan on Tuesday, which included Leavitt warning, on behalf of the president, not to cut the tape.
“He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,” Leavitt said, according to the audio.
Dokoupil responded, according to recording obtained by The Times, “Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah.”
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“He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your a– off,'” Leavitt continued, according to the outlet.
The Times reported that some of the CBS staffers present believed the remarks were meant as a joke.
Dokoupil responded to Leavitt with humor and said, “He always says that!”
Kim Harvey, executive producer of “CBS Evening News”, was heard saying, “Oh, great, OK!”
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“The moment we booked this interview we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement about the report. The interview was published in full that night.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Leavitt told the Times, “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full.”
Trump did successfully sue CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview the network did with former Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election. CBS’ editing of the interview and how it aired the footage across two different nights was at the center of the suit, with Trump claiming it was election interference.
CBS settled the suit with Trump ahead of parent company Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media last year.
The president teased Dokoupil during the interview on Tuesday and suggested he wouldn’t have a job if Harris had won, after the CBS host pressed Trump on why Americans didn’t feel the benefits of the economy under his administration.
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“Tony, we now have the hottest country in the world. And a year-and-a-half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country,” Trump told Dokoupil. “You wouldn’t have a job right now. If [Kamala Harris] got in, you probably wouldn’t have a job right now.”
“Your boss, who’s an amazing guy, might be bust, OK?” Trump said. “Let me just tell you — you wouldn’t have this job. You wouldn’t have this job — certainly whatever the hell they’re paying you. Our country is rocketing right now. We have the hottest country in the world. If they got in, we’d be Venezuela on steroids.”
Trump was referring to David Ellison, the new owner of CBS parent company Paramount and the son of billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison.
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Dokoupil offered a rebuke to the president as the two wrapped up the interview.
“For the record, I do think I’d have this job even if the other guys won,” Dokoupil told Trump. The president then responded, “Yeah — but at a lesser salary.”
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.