• Stephen Miller demanded CBS fire producers who protested the network’s decision to pull a segment on Venezuelan deportees sent to El Salvador
• CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss shelved the story hours before broadcast, citing need for Trump administration comment
• Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi called the decision corporate censorship in leaked internal memo to colleagues

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller escalated tensions between the Trump administration and CBS News on December 23, calling for the network to fire “60 Minutes” producers involved in what he characterized as a revolt against network leadership over a shelved deportation segment.

“Every one of those producers at ’60 Minutes’ engaged in this revolt, fire them. Clean house.”

Miller made the comments during an appearance on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” while defending the Trump administration’s deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan men to CECOT, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador. The White House official’s demand followed internal upheaval at CBS after Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss pulled the segment hours before its scheduled Sunday broadcast.

Segment Pulled After Administration Declines Comment

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CBS News announced December 22 that its planned “Inside CECOT” report would not air as scheduled, instead airing at a future date. The segment investigated conditions at the El Salvador prison where the Trump administration deported approximately 240 Venezuelan migrants in March, claiming they were linked to the Tren de Aragua gang.

Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi reported that deportees described torture, physical abuse and brutal conditions during their four-month detention. The segment, which later aired in Canada and spread online, featured interviews with men who claimed they were falsely accused of gang ties and sent to CECOT without trials or convictions.

Weiss defended her decision in a staff meeting, saying the story did not advance beyond what other outlets had already reported.

“While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball. This is ’60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.”

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According to internal memos obtained by multiple news outlets, Weiss first screened the segment Thursday and requested changes including adding interviews with Trump administration officials such as Miller. The Department of Homeland Security, White House and State Department all declined interview requests but provided written statements that were not included in the original segment.

Correspondent Alleges Political Censorship

Alfonsi sharply criticized the decision in a leaked internal memo to colleagues, calling it corporate censorship rather than an editorial judgment.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

The correspondent argued that allowing administration silence to veto critical reporting hands officials a kill switch for inconvenient stories.

“Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Alfonsi invoked the infamous Jeffrey Wigand tobacco whistleblower case from 1995, when CBS corporate executives pressured “60 Minutes” not to air an interview for fear of litigation. That incident became the subject of the 1999 film “The Insider” and remains one of the network’s most significant journalism controversies.

Miller Defends Deportations, Attacks Producers

Miller dismissed concerns about CECOT conditions and defended the deportations during his Fox News appearance, citing the 2024 murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas, allegedly by two men in the country illegally.

“These are monsters who got exactly what they deserved. Under President Trump, we’re not going to let little girls get raped and murdered anymore.”

The White House official called the segment a “pathetic hatchet job” attempting to create sympathy for gang members. He mocked producers for what he characterized as sheltered perspectives, suggesting they invite deportees to stay in their homes.

According to the Cato Institute, approximately 240 Venezuelan men were deported to El Salvador without trials, convictions or due process. Lawyers for several deportees, including Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, claim their clients were wrongfully deported and mistakenly linked to gang activity.

CBS Faces Internal Revolt and External Scrutiny

Multiple “60 Minutes” correspondents, including Scott Pelley, questioned Weiss’s decision during a Monday staff meeting. CNN reported that CBS sources said people are threatening to quit over the incident.

Weiss, founder of The Free Press who joined CBS in October when Skydance Media acquired her publication, reports directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison. Her appointment raised questions about whether CBS News would take a more Trump-friendly direction, particularly after the network settled a $16 million lawsuit Trump filed over editing of a Kamala Harris interview.

The controversy intensified when the original version of the episode, including Alfonsi’s CECOT segment, aired on Global TV in Canada and quickly spread across social media before being removed. Democratic lawmakers and journalism advocates criticized the decision as evidence of corporate interference.

Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii wrote that CBS executives attempting to avoid offending Trump “are about to learn a tough lesson.” FCC member Anna Gomez called for CBS to provide a clear accounting of the decision and demonstrate how it will safeguard newsroom independence.

When government officials demand journalists be fired for reporting critical stories, and networks pull completed investigations hours before broadcast, what happens to the watchdog role of American media?

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