White House Warned CBS News 'We'll Sue Your Ass Off' If Donald Trump's Interview Was Edited at All
- - White House Warned CBS News 'We'll Sue Your Ass Off' If Donald Trump's Interview Was Edited at All
Bailey RichardsJanuary 19, 2026 at 3:08 AM
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CBS Evening News/YouTube
Donald Trump in his Jan. 13 interview with CBS News -
The White House threatened to sue CBS News on Donald Trump's behalf if the network aired the president's Jan. 13 interview with any edits, The New York Times reported
"He said, 'If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off,’ ” Karoline Leavitt said in a leaked audio recording, obtained by the Times and reviewed by PEOPLE
CBS News aired the interview with Trump and Tony Dokoupil in full, later stating that they intended to do so regardless of Leavitt's comments
The White House warned CBS News to air Donald Trump’s latest interview with the outlet in full or face a lawsuit from the president, according to a leaked audio recording.
Moments after Trump, 79, finished filming the interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil in Michigan on Tuesday, Jan. 13, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Dokoupil, 45, and his colleagues that the president would “sue your ass off” if the segment didn't air unedited, according to The New York Times.
"He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape. Make sure the interview is out in full.’ ... He said, 'If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off,’ ” Leavitt, 28, said, on Trump’s behalf, in the audio, which was obtained by the Times and reviewed by PEOPLE.
“Oh, great, okay,” a woman, identified by the Times as CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey, can then be heard saying, as a man, determined by multiple outlets to be Dokoupil, responded, “He always says that."
The White House and CBS News did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment on Sunday, Jan. 18.
CBS News aired the 13-minute interview — in which Trump and Dokoupil discussed topics ranging from the ongoing protests in Iran to the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — the same evening it was filmed.
In a statement obtained by the Times and The Washington Post, the network said that it planned to air the unedited conversation all along.
“The moment we booked this interview we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety,” a CBS spokesperson said.
Leavitt, meanwhile, responded to the leaked recording by doubling down. When reached for comment by the Times, the White House press secretary said, “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full.”
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Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Trump has a tumultuous relationship with CBS News and has a long history of vocal criticism directed toward the network.
Paramount — the parent company of CBS — and Skydance merged last year after CBS News settled a lawsuit with the president, who accused 60 Minutes of deceptively editing a campaign trail interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris on the program.
The lawsuit initially sought $10 billion in damages, leading to concerns over the precedent Paramount could set for media companies by giving in to demands from the president. (Paramount eventually agreed to pay $16 million to Trump's future presidential library.)
The president has since continued to target CBS News, including slamming the network in December after it aired an interview with former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. (Trump and Greene, 51, publicly feuded after the two had a falling out over her push to release the Epstein files.)
“THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME!” the president wrote on Truth Social at the time, after Greene's interview aired.
Added Trump: “Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
