Trump Tells Tony Dokoupil, ‘You Wouldn’t Have a Job Right Now’ if Harris Won

President Donald Trump told CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil to his face that he owes his new media gig to former Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 election loss.

Dokoupil aired an exclusive interview with Trump at a Ford plant in Detroit. While declaring he inherited a “dead country” that turned into the world’s “hottest,” Trump told Dokoupil he likely wouldn’t have his new gig if Harris won the election because Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison — who Trump called an “amazing guy” — might be too broke to hire him.

The merger between Skydance and Paramount was approved under the Trump administration. It was announced that Dokoupil would take over anchor duties on CBS Evening News last month under new network editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who was named editor-in-chief in October.

“Tony, we have now the hottest country in the world, and a year and a half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country. You wouldn’t have a job right now. If she got in, you probably wouldn’t have a job right now. Your boss, who’s an amazing guy, might be bust, okay?” Trump told Dokoupil.

“Might be what?” Dokoupil asked.

“Might be bust. I doubt it in his case, but you never know,” Trump continued. “Let me just tell you, you wouldn’t have this job, you wouldn’t have this job, certainly whatever the hell they’re paying you.”

At the end of the interview, Dokoupil brought up Trump’s claim again and argued that he believed he would be in his anchor position had Trump lost the election. Trump responded by bringing up Dokoupil’s salary again and saying he might be right, but he’d be working on the cheap.

“For the record, I do think I’d have this job if the other guys won,” Dokoupil said.

“Yeah, but at a lesser salary,” Trump shot back.

Watch above via CBS.