Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s billionaire ally, on Sunday repeatedly attacked CBS’s “60 Minutes,” suggesting the team behind the news program deserves a “long prison sentence” for what he described as their efforts to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
Musk appeared to take issue with a report from Sunday’s episode focused on what the Trump administration’s moves at the U.S. Agency for International Development could mean for the future of other government agencies.
USAID has been one of Musk’s biggest targets as the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
“60 Minutes” posted a graphic on its account on X, formerly called Twitter, featuring a quote by former USAID administrator Andrew Natsios, a Republican, refuting the Trump administration’s claims that the agency needs to be reformed to cut out massive fraud.
“The most accountable aid agency in the world is USAID,” Natsios said.
Musk, who ignored the show’s request for an interview, replied to the post, citing a clip of the unedited interview “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker taped with Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall, which is the subject of a lawsuit Trump brought against CBS.
“60 Minutes are the biggest liars in the world!” Musk said. “They engaged in deliberate deception to interfere with the last election. They deserve a long prison sentence.”
The president himself has previously called for the news program to be “immediately terminated.”
Still, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, has reportedly been mulling reaching a settlement agreement with Trump in the $10 billion lawsuit he brought against the network last year, accusing “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing its interview with Harris. But the Wall Street Journal on Friday reported some executives have raised concerns that settling the lawsuit could expose them to legal threats.
Trump’s lawsuit stemmed from CBS releasing two different versions of a question about Israel that Harris answered. The first aired during a preview on the network’s “Face the Nation,” while another was broadcast during a full “60 Minutes” episode.
Earlier this month, CBS released the unedited transcript and the camera feeds from the Harris interview following an order by FCC chair Brendan Carr, noting in a statement that the material confirmed the “broadcast was not doctored or deceitful.”
“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,” the statement said.
