A week after calling out CBS parent Paramount Global over the show’s journalistic independence, 60 Minutes on Sunday ran another hard-hitting segment on Donald Trump, this time over the president’s attacks on law firms.
Trump’s executive orders have threatened to prohibit some of the nation’s largest firms from security clearances, federal agencies and even courthouses, as the president cited their work on behalf of his perceived enemies. The orders even threatened to cancel the government contracts of the firm’s clients.
The show’s correspondent Scott Pelley noted at the outset of the segment that it was “nearly impossible to get anyone on camera for this story because of the fear now running through our system of justice.”
One who did was Marc Elias, a attorney for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and then, in 2020, someone who successfully challenged Trump’s claims of election rigging.
Nine firms either named in an executive order or under threat of one have reached agreements with the White House to provide pro bono legal services, estimated at nearly $1 billion.
Elias told 60 Minutes, “It is trying to intimidate them the way in which a mob boss intimidates people in the neighborhood that he is seeking to either exact protection money from or engage in other nefarious conduct. I mean, the fact is that these law firms are being told, ‘If you don’t play ball with us, maybe somethin’ really bad will happen to you.’ ”
Trump has previously lashed out at 60 Minutes, while he’s sued CBS over the show’s interview last year with Kamala Harris. Trump’s lawsuit claims that the show was deceptive, and violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act. 60 Minutes has denied that, while many legal experts see the lawsuit as frivolous.
At the same time, Paramount Global needs administration approval for its merger with Skydance, and CBS lawyers have entered into settlement talks with Trump’s team.
That has led to a great deal of consternation at CBS News. Last month, the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, resigned, saying that he no longer felt that he could “make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience.” Last week, Pelley told viewers about Owens’ resignation, telling viewers that as Paramount has sought merger approval, it “began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he had lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”
In the latest segment, 60 Minutes featured Trump’s defense of his EOs on law firms. The show also spotlighted legal arguments made by the administration as some firms have challenged the president’s attacks in court. Trump was shown saying of the firms, “They’re not babies. They’re very sophisticated people. Those law firms did bad things, bad things. They went after me for years, Russia, Russia, Russia, hoax, all a hoax.”
Pelley asked Elias, “If lawyers give up their independence, what is lost?”
Elias said, “The rule of law. And this is why the business community ought to care. Today, it might be that, you know, Donald Trump thinks he can take over the election system through one of his executive orders. Tomorrow maybe it’s the banking system. After that, maybe it’s contracts. Maybe he decrees I’m gonna decide which contracts are binding and which contracts aren’t binding. So, the legal system is fundamental to how our society operates, how capitalism operates, and everyone should have a stake in that.”