The Truth About Donald Trump's Relationship With Lesley Stahl

Lesley Stahl of CBS News' 60 Minutes sat down with President Donald Trump at the White House on October 20, 2020, to conduct a solo interview. After about 37 minutes, Trump abruptly left the interview and refused to come back for the scheduled joint interview with Vice President Mike Pence, saying they had enough material to work with. Trump threatened to leak the interview ahead of its scheduled time, writing on Facebook: "I will soon be giving a first in television history full, unedited preview of the vicious attempted 'takeout' interview of me by Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes. Watch her constant interruptions & anger. Compare my full, flowing and 'magnificently brilliant' answers to their 'Q's'." And sure enough, that's what he did. On October 22, 2020, Trump posted the interview online. Despite Trump's leak, CBS aired their interview at its appointed time on October 25, 2020. Throughout the interview, Donald Trump showed frustration towards Stahl, leading to some choice dialogue. One sticking point appeared to be that Stahl began the interview by promising, quote, "tough questions." It wasn't the most cordial opening to the interview, but that's actually nothing new. According to The New York Times, Stahl has interviewed Trump twice before, since he became president, so the two have something of a history. They've verbally sparred on-camera multiple times and covered some tough topics, but one of their most revealing exchanges actually occurred while the cameras weren't rolling. In 2018, Stahl told journalists at the Deadline Club Awards that she met with Trump before one interview, and she took the opportunity to ask him why he spends so much time attacking the press. Not surprisingly, that moment was also brought up during Stahl's October 2020 interview with the president. After Trump left, Pence sat down with Stahl and offered answers that seemed evasive, as The New York Times put it. So Stahl told Pence what she really thought of both him and Trump. Stahl's comment pointed to the fact that, since Trump and Pence hold positions of leadership, people have a right to get clear answers from them. She took the same approach during Trump's portion of the interview, delivering a curt response when the president complained that Democratic nominee Joe Biden supposedly doesn't get asked tough questions. The jabs didn't end when the interview wrapped. Afterwards, Trump shared a clip on Twitter of Stahl talking with her team, writing: "Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come." CBS in turn responded with a statement that this was moments after the interview and that Stahl had entered the White House wearing a mask. Twitter also had a few thoughts in response to Trump's clip. Many of the comments followed the same line of thinking that Stahl used during the interview, pointing out that since Trump is president, he bears the ultimate responsibility. For her part, Stahl summed up the exchange most succinctly: Clearly, the two have a history that goes back years, and the latest interview probably hasn't done much to clear the air. Watch the video to learn The Truth About Donald Trump's Relationship With Lesley Stahl! #DonaldTrump #LesleyStahl