Elon Musk is targeting the journalists behind 60 Minutes.
The Tesla CEO, 53, spoke out against the CBS News broadcast after it shared a quote on X from former Republican USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios, in which he denies President Donald Trump’s claims that the agency “is rife with fraud.”
“60 Minutes are the biggest liars in the world!” responded Musk, who worked to dismantle USAID in recent weeks.
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Musk then shared a clip of 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker interviewing former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election — an exchange which Trump has claimed was dishonestly edited.
“They engaged in deliberate deception to interfere with the last election,” Musk wrote in the Feb. 16 X post. “They deserve a long prison sentence.”
PEOPLE reached out to CBS News for comment about Musk’s suggestion that 60 Minutes staff be jailed.
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Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg/Getty
Elon Musk wears a MAGA hat in the Oval Office on Feb. 11, 2025
Musk’s post comes months after Trump filed a lawsuit against CBS, demanding billions of dollars in damages and claiming that 60 Minutes deceptively edited Harris’ fall 2024 interview in order to “mislead the public and attempt to tip the scales” of the presidential election in her favor, according to the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press.
In February, as a result of the lawsuit, CBS released the videos and full transcript of its interview segments with Harris.
CBS also shared a statement saying that they decided to share the media in order to show that their “broadcast was not doctored or deceitful.”
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“In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews — for time, space or clarity. In making these edits, 60 Minutes is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public — all while working within the constraints of broadcast television,” CBS said in its statement.
“… Each excerpt reflects the substance of the vice president’s answer. As the full transcript shows, we edited the interview to ensure that as much of the vice president’s answers to 60 Minutes‘ many questions were included in our original broadcast while fairly representing those answers,” the company continued. “60 Minutes‘ hard-hitting questions of the vice president speak for themselves.”
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A federal judge denied CBS’ motion to throw out Trump’s lawsuit on Monday, Feb. 10, after Trump amended his lawsuit to ask for $20 billion in damages instead of $10 billion, according to Variety.
CBS has called the lawsuit “completely without merit,” and argued that its edits on the 60 Minutes broadcast were protected under the First Amendment. Still, reports have circulated that CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, is seeking to settle the lawsuit, per NPR.
Paramount Global is currently in the middle of a reported $8 million-merger with Skydance Media, which is expected to close in April 2025, per the LA Times.
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