Trump withdraws from “60 Minutes” election special; Kamala Harris is interviewed

Only Vice President Kamala Harris will appear on a “60 Minutes” contestant hour after former President Donald Trump, who previously agreed to appear on the show, decided not to participate in the Monday, Oct. 7, special.

“For more than half a century, '60 Minutes' has invited Democrats and Republicans to appear on our show as Americans go to the polls,” 60 Minutes said in a statement. “This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes. Vice President Harris will speak with correspondent Bill Whitaker. After initially accepting 60 Minutes' request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump's campaign has decided against Pelley's broadcast of the Harris interview this Monday evening as planned.

Harris and Trump have only debated once and have no other debates scheduled before then Election on November 5th.

According to CBS News, in advance of the candidate hour, Trump was the first candidate to accept the “60 Minutes” request for an interview for the special broadcast through campaign spokespeople. It was agreed that both candidates would be given equal time during the broadcast. “60 Minutes” will stick to its agreement with Harris and has campaign interviews scheduled for this week.

Trump last met with 60 Minutes in 2020 walked out during the interview with Lesley Stahl. Trump referenced the incident at a press conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday night when asked about his decision not to participate in the Oct. 7 “60 Minutes” election special.

“Well, right now I'm too – they came to me and wanted me to do an interview, but first I want an apology because the last time I did an interview with them, if you remember, they had me , challenged on the computer,” Trump said. “They said the 'laptop from hell' came from Russia, and I said it didn't come from Russia. It was from Hunter and I never got an apology so I'm kind of waiting. I would love to do '60 Minutes.' I mean, I would do it now, right? And you're harder than “60 Minutes”, honestly it wasn't by Hunter I didn't get it – if you remember Lesley Stahl, we argued a bit on camera and talked about that and other things. And you know, they really owed me an apology, David Muir. How about David Muir when he said crime was down and the next day crime went up 45%? You should have apologized for everything I would like to get an apology. That's why I asked her to apologize.

The Republican presidential candidate emphasized that he owes an apology to “60 Minutes.”

“Let’s see if they can do it. I wouldn’t mind doing 60,” Trump continued. “I did '60 Minutes' a lot. I did '60 Minutes' twice with Mike Wallace, the great Mike Wallace, he was great. His son comes from a different stadium. His son didn't – I said.” “You want to be like your father? You just don’t have the talent.”

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement that Trump's team did not agree to an interview.

“Fake news,” Cheung said in a post on “also insisted on conducting live fact-checking, which is unprecedented.”

Harris is expected to speak on a wide range of topics, including the economy, immigration and the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel.

The vice president previously met with Whitaker last year. She was also interviewed by Norah O'Donnell, anchor of “CBS Evening News” and correspondent of “60 Minutes.” 2020.

Trump met with “60 Minutes” Senator Mike Wallace in 1985, and Pelley was there 2015 and Lesley Stahl twice in 2016, First in July this year and then again November 2016. He also spoke to Stahl again 2018 and 2020.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance have also been invited to participate in the Oct. 7 broadcast. The couple is set on debate with each other Tuesday at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. O'Donnell will moderate the debate alongside “Face the Nation” host and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.