A pulled 60 Minutes segment examining the treatment of detainees deported from the United States to El Salvador surfaced online this week after a technical error by a Canadian broadcaster, intensifying internal and external scrutiny of CBS News leadership.
The nearly 14-minute report, removed from the CBS broadcast schedule just hours before it was set to air Sunday, appeared briefly on Global News’ streaming app in Canada. While both CBS and Global News aired the episode on television without the segment, the Canadian network mistakenly uploaded the wrong version to its app. That allowed viewers to access the unaired report before it was quickly removed.
Clips from the segment soon circulated widely on social media.
The report focused on detainees transferred to El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, known as CECOT. The high-security prison has drawn international criticism. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed Luis Munoz Pinto, a Venezuelan college student. He said he was deported despite having no criminal record. Pinto spent six months in U.S. immigration detention while awaiting an asylum decision.
In the interview on 60 Minutes, Pinto described severe physical abuse by prison guards. He alleged that he was beaten, slammed against walls and suffered a broken tooth while detained. He also recounted scenes of overcrowding and illness inside the facility, describing blood, screams and detainees becoming physically ill under extreme conditions.
CBS News has not publicly commented on the leak or the circumstances surrounding the segment’s removal.
Sara Fischer at Axios reported Monday that the 60 Minutes team reached out to press officials at the White House, State Department and DHS. All provided on the record comments to CBS News journalists’ for the story. However, none of their comments made air.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss told staffers on Monday the 60 Minutes piece was pulled because it “wasn’t ready.” According to reporting by The New York Times though, Weiss requested multiple changes and pushed for the inclusion of an interview with Stephen Miller or another senior Trump administration official. Weiss reportedly argued that much of the reporting had already appeared elsewhere and needed further development.
Alfonsi disputed that assessment in a leaked email to colleagues, stating the story had passed extensive editorial review. She wrote that the segment had been screened multiple times and approved by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. Pulling it at the last minute, she said, was “not an editorial decision” but a political one.
Internally at CBS, the decision has sparked tension. Across social media and the media industry, reactions are mixed as well.
An internal email from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said Weiss was handing President Donald Trump a “kill switch” for any reporting deemed inconvenient. Defenders of Weiss argue that she should be able to demand more reporting on stories in her role if content is lacking new information or viewpoints from both sides.
The leaked segment has reignited questions about independence, decision-making and transparency at CBS News, seen as one of television journalism’s most storied outlets.
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