The Worst of CBS’s 60 Minutes 

Geoffrey Dickens
June 9th, 2026 1:00 PM

Text to Speech

00:00 00:00
Font Size

Ever since his firing from 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley has been on a personal press tour, bellyaching about CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss wrecking - in his belief - one of the last bastions of truth in the news media. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

From the infamous Rathergate - where former CBS News anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes used forged documents in a hit piece about President George W. Bush’s National Guard Service to correspondent Lesley Stahl dismissing President Donald Trump on Hunter Biden’s laptop – even editing out his responses – the long-running show has abandoned journalistic ethics when it comes to covering conservatives and Republicans. 

On the flipside, it’s run cover and offered softball coverage for Democrats like President Barack Obama, both Bill and Hillary Clinton, and used deceptive editing tactics to cover up former Vice President Kamala Harris’s gaffes. 

NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham put it best in this 2024 column: “Nobody in TV news has been more overpraised than 60 Minutes. This horde of urbane leftist snobs has concocted syrupy minutes for Democrats (especially Barack Obama) and salty minutes for Republicans (especially Trump).”

What follows is just a sampling of leftist agenda (via the MRC archives) forwarded by Pelley and his fellow 60 Minutes blabbers Lesley Stahl, Morley Safer, Mike Wallace and Andy Rooney: 

 

SCOTT PELLEY

 

“Too Soon to Tell” How Much Trump “Is In Defiance of the Constitution”

 

 

“It’s too soon to tell how serious President Trump is in defiance of the Constitution. In his first 28 days, he signed an order to nullify birthright citizenship for some — a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. And he has closed agencies and frozen spending that Congress mandated by law.” 
— Correspondent Scott Pelley on CBS’s 60 Minutes, February 16, 2025.

 

Spinning Befuddled Biden’s Blunders

 

 

“Joe Biden is among the longest-serving politicians in Washington. If there is less bounce in the step than there once was, if the words don’t flow like they used to, maybe there’s something to be said for knowhow, five decades on the Hill and in the Oval...You have lived a long life of triumph and tragedy. In November, you’ll be 80. And I wonder what it is that keeps you in the arena.” 
— Correspondent Scott Pelley in an interview with President Joe Biden on 60 Minutes, September 18, 2022.

 

GOP House Speaker Race Endangering the World

“The President is asking for billions of dollars for Israel and Ukraine. But Congress is paralyzed. Hard-right Republicans are obstructing the election of a Speaker of the House. [To Biden]: Does the dysfunction that we’ve seen in Congress increase the danger in the world?”
— Former CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley during an interview with President Joe Biden on CBS’s 60 Minutes, October 15, 2023.

 

Bashing Brett Kavanaugh

 

 

“You are rare for many reasons, but one of the reasons is you are a pro-choice Republican. Many of your opponents are going to say, ‘She’s pro-choice, she’s pro-women’s rights, and she just sent a man accused of sexual assault to the Supreme Court of the United States.’...There are many who believe that Judge Kavanaugh will be the vote that results in abortion becoming illegal in the United States. And I wonder if you’re concerned about that?”
— Correspondent Scott Pelley’s questions to Republican Senator Susan Collins on 60 Minutes, October 7, 2018.

“I’d like to ask both of you what you made of Judge Kavanaugh’s very emotional response and what it may or may not say about his judicial temperament. Does this man belong on the Supreme Court?”
— Correspondent Scott Pelley question to Sens. Jeff Flake-R and Chris Coons-D as aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes, September 30, 2018.

 

Threatened by a Chant? 

 

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley: “Madame Secretary, did you hear the Republican convention chanting ‘Lock her up’?”
Hillary Clinton: “I didn’t hear it because I wasn’t watching, but I certainly heard about it, yes.”
Pelley: “Did you feel threatened by that?”
Clinton: “No, I felt sad...”
— Exchange on CBS’s 60 Minutes, July 24, 2016.

 

LESLEY STAHL 

 

Trump Exposes 60 Minutes Censoring Biden Scandal

 

 

President Donald Trump: “Lesley, let me ask you something. You think it’s okay for the mayor of Moscow’s wife to give him millions and millions of dollars, $3.5 million, to give his family? Do you think it’s okay for Hunter Biden to say that ‘we’re giving – we’re giving the big guy 10%’ of this massive amount of money they’re taking in? Do you think it’s okay for all of these horrible things that you’ve seen where they’re getting hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars, where China gives them a billion and a half dollars to manage, the family? A billion and a half dollars, and then he’s supposed to negotiate? Let me tell you, it’s the biggest – second biggest scandal. The biggest scandal was when they spied on my campaign. They spied on my campaign.”
Correspondent Lesley Stahl: “No, there’s no – real evidence of that.”
Trump: “Of course there is. It’s all over the place. Lesley, they spied on my campaign and they got caught.”
Stahl: “Sir, can I say something. You know, this is 60 Minutes, and we can’t put on things we can’t verify.”
Trump: “No, you won’t put it on because it’s bad for Biden.”…
Trump: “Lesley, you’ve discredited yourself. When you say that you’re not gonna cover Biden, you’re gonna ask him what flavor ice cream he has, okay.”
Stahl: “That’s not me.”
Trump: “Instead of, why did Hunter get $3.5 million from Moscow? Instead of, why is an energy company paying your son $183,000 a month or whatever they’re paying him, and he has no experience in energy. You know, you discredit yourself. I don’t have to discredit you.”
— From full exchange taped for CBS’s 60 Minutes, October 25, 2020 that President Donald Trump posted to Facebook. 

 

Stahl Mocks “Cutting Spending” as “Glib” 

 

 

Anchor Lesley Stahl: “Would you be willing to vote for compromise? In other words, raise some taxes?”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I don’t think we have a revenue problem in Washington. We have a spending problem.”
Stahl: “You know something? That’s glib. That’s glib….What does that mean? The two sides have to come together and hammer it out.”
— CBS’s 60 Minutes, April 2, 2024.

 

Hard-Hitting Coverage of Nancy Pelosi

 

 

“At the State of the Union, she did her mocking clap and it went viral. Now, if you go to her own campaign website, you’ll see she’s touting herself as ‘The Patron Saint of Shade.’ This is your new branding of Nancy Pelosi. Kind of like a giant slayer almost, or muscular.”
— Correspondent Lesley Stahl during interview of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes, April 14, 2019.

 

Anything to Say to Those “Terrified” By a Trump Presidency? 

“A lot of people are afraid. They’re really afraid. African Americans think there’s a target on their back. Muslims are terrified...Do any of you want to say anything about this fear that’s out there?”
— Lesley Stahl’s question to the Trump family on CBS’s 60 Minutes, November 13, 2016.

 

Praise for Jimmy Carter!

Correspondent Lesley Stahl: “When all is said and done — and many will be surprised to hear this — Jimmy Carter got more of his programs passed than Reagan and Nixon, Ford, Bush 1, Clinton or Bush 2.”
Former President Jimmy Carter: “I had the best batting average in the Congress in recent history of any president, except Lyndon Johnson.”
— Exchange on CBS’s 60 Minutes, September 19, 2010.

 

MORLEY SAFER

 

Man of “Impeccable Virtues” Grills “Right-Wing Conservative” Archbishop

“No question that you’re conciliatory, that you like to have dialog, but underneath that you’re an old-fashioned conservative. I mean, in the sense of right-wing conservative....Despite the jolly open demeanor, he’s about as conservative as they come....He is unwavering on what he calls the ‘settled’ questions: abortion, birth control, ordination of women, gay marriage, and celibacy.”
— Morley Safer during profile of Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan on 60 Minutes, March 20, 2011.

“I resolve to never make resolutions. My sins are all pleasurable, my virtues impeccable. I love animals, small children and I am never cruel to grown-ups, unless it is absolutely necessary. I smoke too much and occasionally over-medicate on good red wine. Saints are the most tedious people, humorless and lacking in imagination. I have no intention of ever becoming one.”
— 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer quoted on TV Newser, January 3, 2007.

 

Sean Hannity = “Junkyard Dog”

Correspondent Morley Safer: “Liberal politics has always been his [actor Alec Baldwin’s] passion....He has an impressive grasp of the issues and spends a huge amount of his time and money supporting causes he believes in....But his bare-knuckled approach to political discourse — ”
Clip of Alec Baldwin: “Not all Republicans are as insane as these extremist conservatives.”
Safer: “— has made him an easy target for conservative junkyard dogs like Sean Hannity.”
— From a 60 Minutes profile of actor Alec Baldwin, May 11, 2008.

 

The Key to Happiness? Be More Like Socialist Denmark!

“The main scientific survey of international happiness, carried out by Leicester University in England, ranks the U.S. a distant 23rd, well behind Canada and Costa Rica. But you’ll be pleased to know we beat Iraq and Pakistan. And the winner is? Once again, Denmark....What makes a Dane so happy? And why isn’t he wallowing in misery and self-doubt like so many of the rest of us?...No student loans hanging over their heads — all education is free in Denmark, right on through university....Denmark also provides free health care, subsidized child care and elder care, a social safety net spread the length and breadth of the country....Wanting it all is a bacterium that stays with us from youth to old age — wanting a bigger house, fancier car, more stuff. And when we get more, there’s always someone with even more stuff who’s just as unhappy. Some suggest that the unhappiest zip codes in the country are the wealthiest, like the Upper East Side of New York.”
— CBS’s Morley Safer on 60 Minutes, February 17, 2008.

 

Praise for Skewering Fox Hosts

“If you flip through the cable news channels any weeknight, you’re bound to see a collection of talking heads, or rather shouting heads, who draw large audiences with a diet of often wildly inaccurate, but patriotic and combative noise. The shows are not exactly news or entertainment, but are exactly outrageous. Bill O’Reilly perfected the formula on Fox, and others have successfully followed his recipe. With all of their excesses, it was only a matter of time before someone came along to skewer them. Well, the eagle has landed.”
— CBS’s Morley Safer during a profile of then Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert on CBS’s 60 Minutes, April 30, 2006. 

 

MIKE WALLACE

 

Nostalgia For Brutal Order

 

 

“Many Soviets viewing the current chaos and nationalist unrest under Gorbachev look back almost longingly to the era of brutal order under Stalin.”
— Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, February 11, 1990.

 

ANDY ROONEY

 

Blaming America for Terror Attacks Here

“Some people who hated Americans set out to kill a lot of us, and they succeeded. Americans are puzzled over why so many people in the world hate us....We’re trying to protect ourselves with more weapons. We have to do it, I guess, but it might be better if we figured out how to behave as a nation in a way that wouldn’t make so many people in the world want to kill us.”
— CBS’s Andy Rooney, 60 Minutes, September 10, 2006.

 

OFF-AIR QUOTES 

 

Andy Rooney: America’s Attitude Toward Communism May Have Been Unfair

“Communism got to be a terrible word here in the United States, but our attitude toward it may have been unfair. Communism got in with a bad crowd when it was young and never had a fair chance...The Communist ideas of creating a society in which everyone does his best for the good of everyone is appealing and fundamentally a more uplifting idea than capitalism. Communism’s only real weakness seems to be that it doesn’t work.”
— 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney in The New York Times, June 26, 1989.

 

Mike Wallace Admission: Top Source for 60 Minutes is a Leftist Rag

“I read Mother Jones carefully and look forward to every issue. After all, stories that started out in Mother Jones have wound up on 60 Minutes.” 
— CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace as quoted in 1989 subscription letter for the far-left magazine.

Donor Privacy Policy