Scott Pelley's Fiery Defiance

The CBS revolt vs. Ellison/Weiss

Scott Pelley is all out of f’s to give.

At what point Monday morning did Nick Bilton — Bari Weiss’s pick to run “60 Minutes” — realize he had made a bad life choice?

Was it when he strode into a room of angry “60 Minutes” staffers and tried and failed to get through his prepared notes?

Was it when he was interrupted by veteran CBS correspondent, Scott Pelley, who began to question the new guy about last week’s “Black Thursday” of mass firings that included the sacking of executive producer Tanya Simon aand executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and the firing of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega and other senior staff?¹

Did it dawn on Bilton (who has no broadcast management experience) that he was out of his depth when he declared that “Bari loves ‘60 Minutes,” — and Pelley countered: “She’s murdering ‘60 Minutes’. She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it—and she’s doing exactly that.”

Did it occur to Bilton that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Pelley told him bluntly: “I find it odd that you would take this job knowing that you would never be welcomed here.”

Or did that come later when Pelley said that Weiss has “no qualifications for her job” and told Bilton to his face “you have slender qualifications for this job.”

Or was it when the group laughed at him when he talked about his plans for the future?

At that point did Bilton, who imagines himself a transformational wunderkind, get the sense that his bagels and rah-rah introduction to his new colleagues was a raging clusterfuck?

And, as he basked in the contempt of his new team, did it begin to dawn on Bilton that he’s about to take his place beside CNN’s fail-boss Chris Licht in the pantheon of arrogant media putzes?

By the time Bilton left the room, telling his new colleagues “Enjoy the Bagels,” the meeting was already a disaster. But at least it had taken place in private.

Then someone slipped Oliver Darcy an audio recording of the confrontation, which instantly became a sensation, because it revealed a CBS in open revolt against the Ellison/Weiss regime.

Darcy’s account — Pelley’s ‘60 Minutes’ Revolt — is must-read.

At one point the back-and-forth between Pelley and Bilton became so contentious that one of Weiss’s minions, Charles Forelle, told Pelley he was being “rude”. Pelley shot back:

"I'm not being rude.

I have some pretty—you know what was rude? Black Thursday. That was the absolute definition of rudeness. Telling Tanya Simon she had to be out of here at five o'clock. Sending Draggan Mihailovich to HR to get fired, because nobody could look him in the eye. Not talking about Tanya's contract. Not talking about Sharyn Alfonsi's contract. Not talking about Cecilia Vega's contract. Just calling them up and telling they were fired. That's rude. This is a conversation. That is rude, and you were part of that."

Bruises were left.

Exit take: Pelley sounds like a man who expects to resign or be fired. But on Monday, he and colleagues made it abundantly clear they will not go quietly — and are prepared to raise the cost of the Trump/Ellison Weiss attack on the franchise.

BONUS: Bill Owens, the former executive producer of “60 Minutes” weighed in Monday night, sharply criticizing Weiss’s firing of his former colleagues.

“They were fired by people who don’t even know what we do and don’t actually care,” Owens candidly said.

“Scott [Pelley] can smell a fraud from a mile away. He stood up the way I did a year ago and I couldn’t be prouder of him,” Owens continued. “And I know all of the people at ‘60 Minutes’ couldn’t be more proud of him. So, in a way, I’ll accept this award today on behalf of my friend Scott and all the people at ‘60 Minutes.’“

Happy Tuesday.

Trump TACOs on the Slush Fund?

Maybe. Axios is reporting: “Trump to drop ‘weaponization’ fund”.

This would be good news (and a reminder that resistance is not futile), but let’s hold off on premature celebrations. If we have learned anything it is (1) Trump hates backing down and (2) He is capable of any level of corruption.

So, he may find other ways to reward the J6 rioters and assorted MAGA goons.

And, the NYT reports this morning that it is “unclear whether getting rid of the fund would affect another part of the legal settlement in the case, which provides Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses with significant immunity from audits.”

But the move comes amid unusually sharp pushback from the normally compliant GOP and setbacks in federal court.

The fund suffered a major legal setback on Friday when, in a surprise move, Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who oversaw Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S., suddenly reopened the case, saying that she wanted to investigate “grievous allegations” that the hasty deal to resolve it had been “premised on deception.”…

That same day, the compensation fund suffered another blow in the courts, when a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., put it on hold altogether until she could consider its underlying merits at a hearing scheduled for June 12.

Stay tuned. Stay vigilant.

More trouble in paradise?

Trump is bored with his war of whim but can’t seem to find a way out of it.

The last few days have seen a reprise of the now-familiar kabuki dance; Trump suggests an illusory deal is hand, only for it turn out to be make-believe.

But there was one interesting twist: Trump reportedly had a testy, profanity-laden call in which he yelled at his BFF Bibi: “You're fucking crazy". Via Axios:

President Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden call on Monday, two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios.,,,

• Two of the sources said Trump claimed he’d helped keep Netanyahu out of jail — a reference to his support during Netanyahu’s corruption trial.

• Summarizing Trump’s remarks to Netanyahu, the U.S. official said: “You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

• A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “pissed” and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: “What the fuck are you doing?”

And a reminder: It can always get worse

“Trump names Bill Pulte acting director of national intelligence” - POLITICO

Pulte made headlines last year for recommending the Department of Justice investigate Democratic lawmakers, Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James over unproven allegations of mortgage fraud. None of the allegations have led to a conviction.

But it’s helped him earn a powerful ally in the president.

“KEEP MOVING FORWARD, WILLIAM, DON’T LET THE RADICAL LEFT WEAKLINGS STOP YOU!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in July 2025.

Pulte also advocated for Congress to investigate then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell over the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and promoted a widely panned 50-year mortgage idea championed by Trump.

FFS.

Today’s Podcast

John Avlon is an author, historian, commentator, and one-time political analyst for CNN. The former editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, Avlon is the author of “Lincoln’s Search for Peace,” “Washington’s Farewell Address,” and is a former chief speechwriter for Mayor Rudy Giuliani — Before the Fall.

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Avlon wrote:

Giuliani lit his reputation on fire for Trump. His sycophancy has left him disbarred and broke. But no man should be judged entirely on their last act. History will remember his leadership on 9/11 long after the wild-eyed, hair-dye-dripping accusations are forgotten. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that his sordid actions on behalf of Trump have made the real-world effectiveness of his policies less accessible to current and future mayors.

If there is a cautionary coda, it is this: Rudy Giuliani would have been an even greater man if he had tried harder to be a good man.

In this episode, Avlon joins me to discuss Trump’s UFC cage, Rudy’s fall from grace, John Cornyn’s scorpion fable post, and the central role that character plays in a democratic society.

Subscribers can listen to an ad-free version right here… or you can watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed

ICYMI: Lewis and Sykes

Tuesday dogs

Back when Eli was smaller than Auggie. But they both wanted me to throw the ball.

1. Both Alfonsi and Vega had issued scathing critiques of the Ellison/Weiss gutting of CBS. Here’s Alfonsi:

“In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like ‘modernization’ and ‘restructuring’ to explain away my departure. Don’t be misled. This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”

Alfonsi’s statement continued: “Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at 60 Minutes. Today CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it. The wall between editorial independence and corporate interest at CBS is being methodically torn down. Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not. If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters.”

Vega also issued a statement ripping CBS:

“In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions.

“Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.”

They were joined by longtime “60 Minutes” Correspondent Steve Kroft, who told Darcy:

“Since I retired, I often wondered what would happen to ‘60 Minutes’. But I never expected it would be executed by the President of the United States.”

“There is no smoking gun,” Kroft added. “But [Donald Trump’s] fingerprints and DNA are all over this. He’s been making threats against ‘60 Minutes’ and how he wanted it gone. And he finally got his wish.”