‘60 Minutes’ phase controversially spiked by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss seems to leak on-line | EUROtoday

A 60 Minutes phase on the mistreatment of migrants despatched by the U.S. to a Salvadoran jail that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made the controversial transfer to tug simply forward of airtime seems to have leaked on-line.

Though Weiss moved to halt the unique deliberate Sunday broadcast, customers of the Canadian Global TV app have been reportedly in a position to see a replica of the phase, which was quickly broadly shared on-line.

The 13-minute clip, which has not been formally verified by CBS, incorporates harrowing tales of mistreatment detainees stated they endured in CECOT, a jail in El Salvador the place the U.S. deported a whole bunch of people with out due course of it accused on little proof of being Venezuelan gang members invading the U.S.

“When we got there, the CECOT director was talking to us,” Luis Munoz Pinto, a university scholar in Venezuela who sought asylum within the U.S., says within the phase. “The first thing he told us was that we would never see the light of day or night again. He said: ‘Welcome to hell. I’ll make sure you’ll never leave.’”

Pinto adds that those inside the facility believed they were “the living dead.”

Others describe being tortured through what they said were savage beatings or isolating detentions in a room called “the island,” which allegedly had no light or ventilation.

The Independent has contacted CBS News, 60 Minutesand Global TV for comment.

The apparent leak fuels the already growing controversy around the segment.

Newsroom sources previously told The Independent that some CBS News staff are ready to “revolt,” after Weiss pulled the segment while allegedly citing a lack of an on-camera response from a top Trump administration official and arguing other outlets had already reported much of the information in the broadcast.

The alleged leaked copy of the segment says the Department of Homeland Security declined a request for an interview and deferred all questions about CECOT to El Salvador, which did not respond to 60 Minutes.

Sharyn Alfonsi, who produced the pulled CECOT investigation, reportedly stridently criticized the editorial process around the segment in a memo to her fellow staff.

In the memo, she reportedly said the segment had been screened five times, cleared by CBS attorneys, and was factually correct.

She accused the Trump administration of refusing to respond as “a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” she reportedly added.

“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” Weiss said in a statement Sunday. “Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

Behind the scenes, Weiss, who lacked any traditional TV news background before being installed in October, reportedly offered up potential cell phone numbers for top Trump administration officials such as border czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller as a way for reporters to continue chasing the story.

Weiss’s decision making around the CECOT segment has sparked claims she was influenced by political pressures, owing to CBS parent Paramount Skydance’s ongoing bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, a move that would need federal clearance.

President Trump has complained in recent weeks of his treatment by 60 Minutes.

“I love the new owners of CBS,” Trump stated at a Friday rally. “Something happens to them, though. 60 Minutes has treated me worse under the new ownership… they just keep hitting me, it’s crazy.”

In August, Skydance and Paramount formally merged following a sophisticated course of dogged with accusations of political meddling.

Skydance was based by David Ellison, son of the billionaire Oracle tech mogul and Trump supporter Larry Ellison.

Shortly earlier than the merger was full, with approval hanging within the stability, Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement in a lawsuit from Trump towards 60 Minuteswhich had alleged it deceptively edited an interview together with his 2024 rival Kamala Harris.

Io Dodds contributed reporting to this story.