President Donald Trump dismissed George Clooney’s interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” as a “puff piece” after the actor-director lodged criticisms at the commander-in-chief in between discussing his debut on Broadway.
“Why would the now highly discredited 60 Minutes be doing a total ‘puff piece’ on George Clooney, a second rate movie ‘star,’ and failed political pundit,” Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. “He fought hard for Sleepy Joe’s election and then, right after the Debate, dumped him like a dog. Later, I assume under orders from the Obama camp, pushed all out for ‘Kamala,’ only to soon realize that that was not going to work out to well.”
Trump continued, “60 Minutes even fraudulently inserted Fake answers into her disastrous interview, aired just before Election Day, in one of the most embarrassing and dishonest events in broadcast history.”
“And now George Clooney again?” Trump asked. “His press agent should be making a fortune!!!”
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President Donald Trump criticized the CBS’ “60 Minutes” interview with George Clooney. (Getty Images )
Clooney, a lifelong Democrat who joined the chorus of those calling for former President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign last summer, sat down with “60 Minutes” to talk about his debut on Broadway playing American journalist Edward R. Murrow in an adaptation of his 2005 film “Good Night, and Good Luck.” The play focuses on Murrow’s challenge to the McCarthy administration, a theme that Clooney argued mirrored what journalists are facing under Trump’s second term.
“Here’s where I would tell you where we differ from what Murrow was doing. Although McCarthy would try to pose things, show up a blank piece of paper and say ‘I got a list of names.’ That was his version of fake news,” Clooney told “60 Minutes.” “We are now at a place now where we’ve found that it’s harder and harder and harder to discern the truth. Facts are now negotiated.”
Clooney also defended his decision to pen a New York Times opinion piece calling for Biden’s ouster from the race just weeks after the A-lister and other Hollywood stars helped garner $30 million in donations for Biden at a Los Angeles fundraiser.
“I was raised to tell the truth,” Clooney said when asked about the essay. “I had seen the president up close for his fundraiser and I was surprised, and so I feel as if there were a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that. And I was not proud of that, and I also believed I had to tell the truth.”
Trump is seeking $20 billion in damages from “60 Minutes” and CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, over an Oct. 7, 2024, interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris leading up to the 2024 presidential election. The lawsuit, initially filed in October shortly before Trump won a second term, and later expanded last month, accuses the program of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” for the way it edited the interview and aired different clips of Harris’ responses.
George Clooney and Grant Heslov attend a press event announcing the complete Broadway cast of “Good Night, And Good Luck” at The Wintergarden Theatre on Feb. 6, 2025, in New York City. (Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
An unedited transcript and raw footage were released in February amid an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission. Different answers from Harris about Israel were aired on “60 Minutes” and CBS’ “Face the Nation,” but the network claimed the discrepancy was “not doctored or deceitful.” Despite asking the court to dismiss the case, corporate leaders are considering whether to settle.
The “60 Minutes” segment also showed Clooney leading a Broadway table read with the play’s cast.
“ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration and CBS News is in the process,” Clooney is heard telling the table read at Winter Garden Theater in the heart of Broadway, before the reporter’s voice-over cuts him off.
President Donald Trump sued CBS for $20 billion, alleging that the network interfered in the 2024 election. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The reporter, Jon Wertheim, then categorizes Trump’s lawsuit against CBS as making the “unfounded allegation” of election interference.
In December, Disney agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
“We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine or use corporations to make journalists smaller,” Clooney also told “60 Minutes.” “Governments don’t like the freedom of the press. They never have, and that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you’re on, they don’t like the press.”
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“It’s a fight that is for the ages,” the actor-director said. “Journalism and telling truth to power has to be waged like war is waged. It doesn’t just happen accidentally. You know, it takes people saying we’re going to do these stories, and you’re going to have to come after us. And that’s the way it is.”