Donald Trump Prematurely Ends ’60 Minutes’ Interview With Lesley Stahl

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump was in the midst of filming an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. But, as Variety reported, he cut the interview short. The interview was being taped for a segment on the show that will air on Sunday.

CNN noted that Trump cut the interview short right before he was set to film a segment with Vice President Mike Pence. The president reportedly sat down with Stahl for 45 minutes before ending the interview prematurely, telling the network that he believed that they had enough material to use for the show. It’s unclear exactly why Trump ended the interview prematurely. CBS News did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. The White House was also asked to comment on the report, which they did not dispute.

The president has since taken to Twitter to address the news himself. On the social media site, Trump posted a clip of Stahl at the White House on Tuesday. In his tweet, he wrote that the reporter was not wearing a mask. In a follow-up tweet, he wrote that he might make a video available from their discussion before the segment airs on 60 Minutes, claiming that the interview was “fake” and “biased.” A source close to the situation said that the president’s photo was taken immediately after the interview ended. Stahl, who has interviewed the president twice before, and the rest of the CBS team were all tested for the coronavirus prior to the interview. The reporter was also wearing a mask leading up to her interview with Trump.

Like Trump himself, Stahl battled the coronavirus this year. Back in May, she revealed on 60 Minutes that she dealt with a weeks-long battle with the illness. She revealed that she spent two weeks at home in bed and later had to be admitted into the hospital for treatment. “One of the rules of journalism is ‘Don’t become part of the story.’ But instead of covering the pandemic, I was one of the more than one million Americans who did become part of it,” Stahl said during the show. “I wasn’t alone from this broadcast. One COVID-positive ’60 Minutes’ coworker had almost no symptoms, while others had almost every symptom you can imagine. Every case is different.”