60 Minutes Removes Trump’s Threat to ‘Walk Away’ from Interview During Corruption Questioning

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President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could leave his interview with 60 Minutes’ Norah O’Donnell did not make broadcast Sunday evening, as it was apparently edited out for time and clarity. But perhaps even more noteworthy is the moment’s omission from the 70+ minute extended version that was published by 60 Minutes and later released by the White House.

The moment came at the end of a line of questioning about Trump’s pardoning of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, in which President Trump insisted he didn’t know who CZ was. O’Donnell asked about the “appearance of pay for play” by pardoning a business partner of Trump’s sons, who’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars in  the crypto business since Trump took office:

NORAH O’DONNELL: OK. Allowing U.S. terrorist groups to, you know, essentially move millions of dollars around. He pled guilty to anti-money laundering laws. That was in 2023. Then in 2025 his crypto exchange, Binance, helped facilitate a $2 billion purchase of World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin. And then you pardoned C.Z. How do you address the appearance of pay for play?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, here’s the thing, I know nothing about it because I’m too busy doing the other –

NORAH O’DONNELL: But he got a pardon-

TRUMP: I can only tell you that-

O’DONNELL: He got a pardon-

TRUMP: Norah, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government. And they’re good — my one son is a No. 1 bestseller now.

At the end of this exchange, things appeared to get somewhat tense, according to the official transcript released by 60 Minutes, though to be fair, since there is no video released, it’s hard to know the precise tone in which Trump touted his ability to walk away from the interview. From the transcript:

O’DONNELL: So not concerned about the appearance of corruption with this?

TRUMP: I can’t say, because — I can’t say — I’m not concerned. I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, “Can I ask another question?” And I said, yeah. This is the question.

O’DONNELL: And you answered-

TRUMP: I don’t mind. Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn’t have to answer this question. I’m proud to answer the question. You know why? We’ve taken crypto-

O’DONNELL: But just generally speak-

TRUMP: Excuse me. We’re No. 1 in crypto in the whole world. Other people wanna be. They’re fighting like hell to be. But we’re No. 1 in crypto because I’m the president. Biden wanted to also, at the very end, you know, he totally switched his thing.

The layers of irony involved in this are stunning, given Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News for what he deemed an election-interfering edit of a Kamala Harris interview a year ago. Paramount eventually settled that for $16 million in advance of the FCC approving its sale to its current owner, Skydance, which the decidedly pro-Trump Ellison family owns.

Mediaite has reached out to CBS News for comment, and will update this story if and when we hear back.