White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly blasted CBS News on Tuesday, calling for the network to fire producers at “60 Minutes” after what he described as an internal “revolt” against Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss over her decision to pull a controversial segment about Venezuelan men deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
Appearing on Fox News’s “Jesse Waters Primetime,” Miller did not mince words, arguing that the producers were attempting to generate sympathy for violent criminals removed from the United States under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
“They know that these are monsters, who got exactly what they deserved,” Miller said. “Because under President Trump, we are not going to let little girls get raped, and murdered anymore.” Miller urged CBS to take decisive action against staff involved in opposing Weiss’s editorial call. “Every one of those producers at ’60 Minutes’ engaged in this revolt, fire them. Clean house, fire them,” he said.
Weiss has defended her decision to shelve correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s segment, saying it was not ready to air because it lacked key perspectives. According to Weiss, the report needed comment from Trump administration principals, including Miller himself, to provide necessary context.
Miller said Tuesday he was not aware that CBS had sought comment from him. “I don’t remember anybody reaching out to me,” he said, noting that requests can sometimes get lost in general communications inboxes. But Miller argued the broader issue was not about logistics, but about intent.
“More fundamentally this is another pathetic ’60 Minutes’ hatchet job,” Miller said, accusing the show of trying to tell “sob stories” about members of the Tren de Aragua gang. That group has been designated a foreign terrorist organization. Miller referenced the 2024 murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Texas, allegedly carried out by two men in the country illegally, as evidence of the dangers posed by criminal migrants.
Alfonsi’s report focused on Venezuelan men deported to CECOT who claim they were wrongly accused of gang ties and had not been convicted of crimes. One case highlighted was that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident whose lawyers say was mistakenly deported and incorrectly linked to gang activity.
Miller rejected the premise outright, insisting that the men deported were dangerous individuals. He mocked the producers for what he described as their sheltered perspective. “You have these ’60 Minutes’ producers who are living in comfort and security, living in their West End condos trying to make us feel sympathetic for these monsters,” he said.
He challenged them directly, proposing a hypothetical test of their convictions. “We will pick someone at random that we sent to CECOT, a random lottery drawn, and they will spend one day overnight in your apartment,” Miller said. “Who’s taking that deal at ’60 Minutes’? Nobody.”
Weiss said Trump administration input would have strengthened the report and defended her call as standard editorial practice. “Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason happens every day in every newsroom,” she said, adding she looks forward to airing the piece when it is ready.
Alfonsi disputed that characterization in a memo, saying her story had been vetted multiple times and cleared by CBS attorneys and standards officials. She said requests for comment were directed at the Salvadoran government, which did not respond.
Despite being pulled from U.S. television, a shorter version of the segment aired in Canada and circulated online, featuring accounts of alleged abuse inside the prison. The decision triggered backlash from Capitol Hill. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii called the move “a terrible embarrassment” and accused CBS executives of avoiding journalism that might offend Trump. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a vocal Trump critic, also protested by canceling his Paramount+ subscription.
For the Trump administration, however, Miller’s message was clear: media outlets should stop defending criminals and start taking responsibility for narratives that undermine public safety.
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