Trump Attacks ‘60 Minutes’ Correspondent Lesley Stahl After Reportedly Cutting Interview Short

Topline

President Trump on Tuesday went after CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl on Twitter after taping a 60 Minutes interview, with CNN reporting he ended his interview abruptly after 45 minutes.

Key Facts

Key Background

Despite Trump trailing Biden considerably in the polls with just two weeks left until the election, the president has chosen to focus his fire in recent days on several individuals who are not his opponent. On Monday, Trump tweeted about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and Anthony Fauci – the nation’s wildly popular top infectious disease official – without mentioning Biden.

Tangent

The president himself has been accused by many of modeling improper behavior on masks, refusing to wear them during a long early stretch of the pandemic and only doing so in public a handful of times. He notably eschewed a mask during an indoor White House ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, which has been dubbed a “superspreader” event as it preceded an outbreak of coronavirus that included Trump himself.

Big Number

8.6 points. That’s the size of Biden’s lead over Trump nationally in the RealClearPolitics average. He holds similar leads in critical battleground states such as Wisconsin and Michigan, and slightly narrower leads in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Crucial Quote

“I’m guessing from this tweet that Stahl asked really tough questions, like she did in her last interview, which was one of the best with Trump to date,” tweeted CBS News White House correspondent Kathryn Watson.

Chief Critic

”This is moments after she criticized me for not wearing a mask while working at my desk,” assistant White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said of Stahl in response to Trump’s tweet. “Rules for thee but not for me, Lesley?”