Donald Trump Praises Skydance and Bari Weiss’ Paramount Takeover

President Donald Trump had kind words for Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount and Bari Weiss’ appointment to CBS News during his first sit-down interview with “60 Minutes” in five years.

CBS News on Sunday released a transcript of the full 90-minute session with Norah O’Donnell, CBS News senior correspondent and “60 Minutes” contributor. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, from international politics to ICE raids in the US, from the economy and healthcare politics to the federal government shutdown. The interview was recorded on October 31 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Highlights from the interview aired Sunday on “60 Minutes.”

The session also marks the first time Trump has returned to CBS News for an interview since the network’s parent company reached a $16 million settlement in a lawsuit Trump filed against the venerable news magazine. CBS’ previous owner, Paramount Communications, wrote the check under pressure in an effort to close the $8 billion Skydance Media transaction. Trump’s baseless claims that “60 Minutes” doctored then-candidate Kamala Harris’ answers in a way that harmed Trump would have been easily defeated on legal grounds in court, legal experts agree, but the previous Paramount ownership regime succumbed to extraordinary pressure from President Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

“’60 Minutes’ has made me a lot of money. And you don’t have to put this on because I don’t want to embarrass you, and I’m sure you don’t… you have a great… I think you have a great new leader, honestly, who is the young woman who runs your entire enterprise, is a great… as far as I know,” Trump said, referring to Weiss’ appointment last month as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

“I don’t know her, but I hear she’s a great person. But ’60 Minutes’ was forced to pay me – a lot of money because they took out her answer which was so bad, it changed the election, two nights before the election. And they added a new answer. And they paid me a lot of money for that. You can’t have fake news. You have to have legitimate news. And I think it’s happening. I see… I see good things happening in the news. I really have And I think one of the best things that can happen this show and being under new ownership, CBS and being under new ownership, I think this is the best thing that’s happened in a long time with a free, open, good press,” Trump said.

O’Donnell also questioned Trump about the conflicts in his role as commander in chief and his family investments and marketing of Trump-branded cryptocurrencies.

“I want to make crypto great for America. That’s all. I don’t want anyone else to have crypto and China to be number one in the world in crypto,” Trump said. “Because in crypto, it’s kind of an industry where you’re actually going to be number one and not number two. And right now, we’re number one by far. I want to keep it that way. Just like we’re number one in AI, we’re number one in crypto. And I want to keep it that way.”

When Trump was asked point-blank about the Trump family’s crypto activity, he was dismissive. “I can’t say it because… I can’t say it. I’m not worried. I don’t… I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I’ll let you ask it. You just came to me and said, ‘Can I ask another question?’ And I said, yes. This is the question….”

Much of the interview was devoted to O’Donnell’s questions about the president’s views on geopolitical hotspots and challenges the U.S. faces in dealing with Russia, China, Israel, Venezuela and other unpredictable situations.

When it came to discussing economic issues at home, Trump displayed his usual bravado and sidestepped O’Donnell’s attempts to pressure him on specific issues.

“We’re doing really well. By the way, the stock market just hit an all-time high. Perfect timing for your show. It’s hit an all-time high 48 times over the course of my nine-month stint. But yesterday the stock market hit an all-time high. We’re doing really well, and everyone knows it,” Trump said.

He blamed his White House predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama for numerous problems, including the persistently high price of groceries.

“It was a dead country, and now we have the hottest country in the world. We have the strongest stock market, everyone wants to get in. A year ago we were a dead country. Right now we have the hottest country in the world. Think about that. And I did that in nine months. And it’s only going to get better,” Trump said.

O’Donnell pressed Trump on the issue of the Justice Department’s recent indictments against Trump’s political enemies, including New York State Attorney General Leticia James and former FBI chief James Comey.

“I think I’ve been very gentle. You’re looking at a man who’s been indicted many times, and I had to beat the rap,” Trump told O’Donnell.

As for the brazen ICE raids in Los Angeles, Chicago and other major cities that have shocked the nation, including some prominent Trump supporters, the president was unimpressed.

“I don’t think they went far enough because we were stopped by the judges, by the liberal judges appointed by Biden and Obama,” Trump said. O’Donnell explicitly asked whether he condoned the violent actions of heavily masked law enforcement officers in workplaces, schools and courthouses. Trump left no doubt about where he stands. “Because you have to get the people out,” he said.

On the state of the government shutdown, now in its 33rd day, Trump said Republicans “continue to vote” despite House Speaker Mike Johnson keeping the House of Representatives in recess for most of the shutdown so far.

“What we’re doing is we’re going to keep voting. I mean, the Republicans are almost unanimously voting to end it, and the Democrats are continuing to vote against ending it. You know, they’ve never had this before. This has happened 18 times before,” Trump said. “The Democrats always voted for an extension and always said, ‘Give us an extension, we’ll figure it out.’ They have lost their way. They have become deranged lunatics. And all they have to do, Norah, is say, “Let’s vote.” “

On the Gaza ceasefire that Trump helped broker last month, he disputed O’Donnell’s suggestion that the situation is “fragile.” He threatened to use force against Hamas terrorists if necessary.

“Hamas could be eliminated immediately if they don’t behave. They know that. If they don’t behave, they will be eliminated immediately,” Trump said.