Playing second fiddle to Scott Pelley’s gag-inducing interview with President Biden on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, CBS journalist Lesley Stahl sat down with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and treated him with more respect and reverence than the show usually affords to American Republicans. Stahl willingly subjected herself to Iran’s oppressive customs for women and had the gall to suggest they’re “one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East” despite the recent murder of a woman for breaking a law on head coverings.
“We met President Raisi Tuesday at the presidential compound in Tehran for his first interview with a western reporter. I was told how to dress, not to sit before he did, and not to interrupt him,” she explained the terms of the arrangement.
Stahl was willing to do all that, but in her 2020 interview with then-President Trump, she refused to acknowledge the existence of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. “[H]e’s in the midst of a scandal,” Trump said at the time. And Stahl immediately jumped to then-candidate Joe Biden’s defense, screeching: “He’s not … No, come on … you’re exaggerating.”
Seemingly acting as Biden’s secretary on Sunday, Stahl pitched Raisi a meeting with the President when he visits the United Nations in the near future. But Raisi didn’t give her the response she wanted, shooting down the idea and claiming Biden was just like Trump (Click “expand):
STAHL: You're off to New York. You're going to speak at the United Nations. You know, President Biden is going to be there. Are you open to a meeting with President Biden? A face-to-face?
RAISI [via translator]: No. I don't think that such a meeting would happen. I don't believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial.
STAHL: What do you think the difference is, from your perspective, between the Trump administration and the Biden administration?
RAISI [via translator]: The new administration in the U.S., they claim that they are different from the Trump administration. They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven't witnessed any changes in reality.
“His major grievance against President Biden is that he has maintained the sanctions on Iran that President Trump imposed,” she tried to explain to viewers.
But while 60 Minutes wanted to play deal broker Biden, in 2021, they deceptively edited video of shouted questions to Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and his response to make him seem guilty of a “pay-for-play” scheme with COVID vaccines.
Without evidence, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi accused DeSantis of allowing wealthy communities to jump the line for vaccines and said he was heading a racket that “sounds like The Hunger Games!” 60 Minutes cut out DeSantis’s scathing and thorough takedown of their lies.
Further in the segment, Stahl lauded the oppressive country for their “attention to religious tradition” while somehow calling them “one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East.”
“This mall could be anywhere in America! With an ice-skating rink, a food court with hot dogs and burgers, and the least expected, sexy window displays,” she boasted before admitting “Raisi just signed a decree making women who don't dress modestly subject to arrest.”
Stahl was also forced to admit that “[a] young woman died Friday after the morality police took her into custody for violating the rules on head coverings. Eyewitnesses say they saw her being beaten while in a police van.” “President Raisi's office says he ordered an investigation,” she added in his defense.
She couldn’t even be bothered to say the woman’s name: Mahsa Amini.
She’s passive on radical Islamic extremists beating a woman to death yet, in 2018, Stahl railed against then-Education Secretary and “devout Christian” Betsy DeVos. Twice, Stahl referred to DeVos as “the most hated Cabinet secretary.” One of those times was to her face.
Calling it “a cordial conversation,” Stahl said the crew was “surprised when a member of Raisi’s staff reached up and blocked one of our cameramen from shooting our goodbyes.” And there was no outrage or criticism in her voice as she concluded by noting, “Another one of our cameramen's phones was confiscated and held by President Raisi’s security team for two and a half hours.”
Stahl was safely back in the U.S. but still refused to treat the Iranian regime as poorly as she does Republicans.
Lesley Stahl’s kindness to Iran was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Wayfair and SimpliSafe. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS’s 60 Minutes
September 18, 2022
8:39:52 p.m. Eastern(…)
LESLEY STAHL: The United States first placed financial sanctions on Iran back in 1979, during the hostage crisis. For nearly four decades, the U.S. State Department has designated Iran one of the world's leading state sponsors of terrorism. But the Obama administration, along with five other countries, agreed to billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for Iran's agreement to dismantle much of its nuclear program and open its facilities to extensive international inspection. The Trump administration, distrusting Tehran, pulled out of the deal and stepped up crushing economic pressure.
That's where Ebrahim Raisi found himself when he was elected president a year ago. Last month, Iran and the 61-year-old hard-liner were on the verge of striking a new deal, but then Iran submitted demands that sent the nuclear talks into a stalemate.
[Cuts to video]
[To Raisi] Sir, thank you. I'm Lesley.
[Voiceover] We met President Raisi Tuesday at the presidential compound in Tehran for his first interview with a western reporter. I was told how to dress, not to sit before he did, and not to interrupt him. We were given one hour for the interview.
(…)
8:41:56 p.m. Eastern
PRESIDENT EBRAHIM RAISI [via translator]: You see, the Americans broke their promises. They did it unilaterally. They said that "I am out of the deal." Now, making promises is becoming meaningless.
STAHL: Are you saying that you cannot trust the Americans?
RAISI [via translator]: We cannot trust the Americans because of the behavior that we've already seen from them. That is why if there is no guarantee, there is no trust.
(…)
8:44:22 p.m. Eastern
STAHL: You're off to New York. You're going to speak at the United Nations. You know, President Biden is going to be there. Are you open to a meeting with President Biden? A face-to-face?
RAISI [via translator]: No. I don't think that such a meeting would happen. I don't believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial.
STAHL: What do you think the difference is, from your perspective, between the Trump administration and the Biden administration?
RAISI [via translator]: The new administration in the U.S., they claim that they are different from the Trump administration. They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven't witnessed any changes in reality.
STAHL [voiceover]: His major grievance against President Biden is that he has maintained the sanctions on Iran that President Trump imposed.
RAISI [via translator]: The sanctions are very tyrannical. This is a tyranny against the people of Iran. It is important to us to have the sanctions lifted.
(…)
8:46:55 p.m. Eastern
STAHL [voiceover]: Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, dating back to 4,000 B.C. It's where the foundations of algebra and chemistry were developed. Today, while there's attention to religious tradition in the Islamic republic, it's one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East, with a well-educated population.
This mall could be anywhere in America! With an ice-skating rink, a food court with hot dogs and burgers, and the least expected, sexy window displays. And yet president Raisi just signed a decree making women who don't dress modestly subject to arrest.
A young woman died Friday after the morality police took her into custody for violating the rules on head coverings. Eyewitnesses say they saw her being beaten while in a police van. President Raisi's office says he ordered an investigation.
(…)
8:53:19 p.m. Eastern
STAHL [voiceover]: As we ended what seemed to be a cordial conversation, we were surprised when a member of Raisi’s staff reached up and blocked one of our cameramen from shooting our goodbyes.
[Cuts back to live]
Another one of our cameramen's phones was confiscated and held by President Raisi’s security team for two and a half hours.
