Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, has called for CBS News staff who criticized the network’s decision to pull a segment of 60 Minutes from Sunday’s episode to be fired.
“Every one of those producers at 60 Minutes who engaged in this revolt—fire them. Clean house and fire them, that’s what I say,” Miller told Fox News on Tuesday.
The 13-minute segment, which was about the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, was pulled three hours before being broadcast.
Bari Weiss, the new editor-in-chief of CBS News, reportedly requested numerous changes to the segment, and a CBS News spokesperson later said it needed “additional reporting.”
Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who conducted the report, pushed back on Weiss’ explanation, saying in a private note to CBS News colleagues on Sunday that the story was ready and had been cleared by attorneys at the network.
“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,” she said in the message, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.
The segment has since appeared on the internet, and caused further backlash against the network’s decision to remove it.
Several veteran CBS News correspondents questioned Weiss’ decision and her explanation for the move in a Monday afternoon meeting, according to The New York Times.
The White House has not responded officially to a request for comment from Newsweek.
This is a developing news story. More to follow.