The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump Shuts Down CBS over Story he Feared

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump conspiring with CBS Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss to shutdown and cancel a 60 minutes episode that was critical of Trump’s handling of migrants sent to El Salvador. Dose: Save 35% on your first month of subscription by going to https://dosedaily.co/MEIDAS or entering MEIDAS at checkout. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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for your support with Midas Touch Network leading the way for all independent news. And in fact, our independent news is beating Fox and all other corporate news right now. And so I want to talk about CBS capitulating to the gangster regime that doesn't just tarnish its reputation. It has destroyed CBS. CBS is done. CBS is dead. CBS is gone. It has utterly been taken over by the gangster Trump regime. And we saw what they did yesterday, which is what I want to highlight right now. So just hours before 60 minutes was set to air a story on deportees who were sent by the Trump administration to the, I call it a concentration camp. They call it a terrorist detention Center in El Salvador, describing the brutal and torturous conditions.

60 Minutes announces that it pulled the segment and it will air it in the future, maybe. So after promoting this segment, CBS posts this editor's note, December 21st, 2025, the broadcast lineup for tonight's edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report inside Seacot, that's the terrorist detention center. I call it a concentration camp. You can call it what you want to. We'll air in a future broadcast. Now, they previously had been showing this promo.

You can see the promo right here. Then they took the promo down. And here's what the promo said. A group of Venezuelan men thought they were being deported from the U.S. back to Venezuela. Instead, they were delivered to Seacot. the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador, where they were shackled and paraded before cameras.

This Sunday, two of those men tell 60 minutes their story. Now, the atrocities that were committed at Seacot, that are being committed at Seacot, but that the United States government has aided and abetted, these are crimes against humanity. Physical torture, sexual abuse, sexual torture, isolation. these people who were sent there who were kidnapped off the streets and disappeared there many months ago suffered the most heinous of heinous conditions and 60 minutes was going to tell that story until the Trump regime intervened and interfered and shut it down now we know that over the past few weeks the Trump regime has been attacking CBS and 60 minutes remember a few weeks

back Marjorie Taylor Green had an interview with 60 Minutes where she described the Trump regime's cover up of the Epstein files and how the Trump regime had lost touch with the American people by claiming that everything is affordable and wear in a golden age. And Marjorie Taylor Green says that she's done with this MAGA, that this MAGA movement is dead, that they're liars. And then Donald Trump responded demanding that CBS provide an apology to Donald Trump. Here's what Donald Trump wrote. The only reason Marjorie Trader Brown, Green turns to Brown, when bad is that she was jilted.

Wham, wow, wow, wow, wow. Then he goes on to say, since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten worse. Oh, well, far worse things can happen. P.S., I hereby demand a complete and total apology, though far too late to be meaningful from Leslie Stahl in 60 Minutes for her incorrect and libel estate. about Hunter's laptop president D.J.T. And you see 60 Minutes promoting that interview with Marjorie Taylor Green December 5th, 2025. Now, you will also recall that some of the top CBS executives previously quit after they saw CBS capitulating back in April and May. You'll recall, for example, on April 22nd, 2025, the head of 60 Minutes, Bill Owens announced his resignation because he said his

journalistic independence was compromised. Back then, you had Paramount looking to sell itself to Skydance, which was owned by Larry Ellison's kid, who was acquiring Paramount, and it needed the approval of the Trump regime's FCC. Then on May 19th, 2025, the CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon stepped down from the network. In a memo to the staff, she cited leadership differences and said, quote, it's become clear that the company and I do not agree on a path forward. Shortly thereafter, on July 2nd, 2025, CBS and its owner Paramount settled that frivolous Trump lawsuit over former Vice President Kamala Harris, October 24 interview with 60 minutes that Donald Trump alleged, oh, they edited in a sequence

that defame me to the tune of billions of dollars and that he suffered emotional distress because they edited the interview in very kind of minor and cosmetic ways. CBS and Paramount settled for $16 million and through 60 minutes under the bus then. And then shortly thereafter on July 24th, 2025, the FCC announces that it would allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle for the deal after Donald Trump gets paid. But Donald Trump has been going after CBS and saying, you're not being nice to me. What's up with these new leaders? You were supposed to do what Trump wants you to do. Why'd you go and show what Marjorie Taylor Green did? And Trump's been relentless about that.

On December 8th, 2025, he posted the only reason Marjorie Trader Brown went bad is that she was jilted and that CBS owes me an apology. Then on December 16th, 2025, Donald Trump said, for those people that think I'm close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called takeover than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I'd hate to see my enemies. And at a recent speech that Donald Trump gave, here is what he says. Just play this clip at his speech. They don't scream, but NBC is really bad. And CBS, I mean, I love the new owners of CBS. Something happens to them, though.

60 Minutes has treated me worse under the new ownership than they just keep treating me. They just keep hitting me. It's crazy. All right. So with that as background, I would normally want to play you the trail. from this 60 minutes piece now if I play you the trailer CBS will go after the Midas touch network on this YouTube channel they're known for attacking us on this YouTube channel so I want you to go to Midas Plus that's our substack where we'll be able to provide additional coverage

there so go to Midasplus.com now and subscribe to Midasplus.com while you're at it Subscribe, though, to this YouTube channel because independent news is more important than ever. And we're seeing what state regime media looks like in real time capitulating to a gangster regime. So make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel and check out Midasplus.com right now and learn more in just a little bit. Okay. So now I want to share with you what Sharon Alfonzi, a correspondent for 60 minutes sent and an internal email to colleagues stating that the CBS News Editor-in-Chief, Barry Weiss, spiked our story about the Trump administration and the transfer of deportees to a prison in El Salvador.

In the email, which was first reported on by the Wall Street Journal, Alfonzi compares the decision to spike the story to another massive scandal. And it goes on to talk about how Weiss declined to speak with her about. this decision. She also says the move was political rather than editorial. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both the CBS attorneys and standards and practices, Alfonzi wrote. It is factually correct, but Barry Weiss intervened. And Barry Weiss was saying, we need to get Stephen Miller on the program, and we need to get more of Trump's voices on this program. Well, when 60 Minutes had asked for comment, the Trump.

regime's Department of Homeland Security and others did not provide any comment. And so this is what Barry Weiss was trying to push for, that she wanted to see Stephen Miller featured in other things. People like, we've got a good story here. Let's just tell what's actually happening. You know, it's wild. We talk all the time about heart health, gut health, brain health, but almost never about the most underrated organ in your body, your liver. It's doing over 500 functions every single day, filtering unwanted elements, supporting digestion, helping with energy, and we usually don't think about it until something is wrong. So what if we actually supported it before problems started? That's where dose for your liver comes in. Dose for your

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and even aid your digestion. You can trust dose. It's got real results with two double-blind placebo-controlled studies showing its positive impact on liver enzyme levels. Ready to give your liver the support it deserves, head to Dosedaily.co-slash-M-E-O-S-M-E-I-D-A-S or enter Midas to get 35% off your first subscription. Hey, your body does so much for you, let's do something for it. That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y-O-S-M-E-I-D-S for 35% off your first-month subscription. Let's just take a look at the Alfonzi letter so you can see it for yourself. She, again, is the 60 Minutes correspondent that was part of this, a segment that was now killed by the Trump regime.

Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned Saturday that Barry Weiss spiked our story inside Seacott, which was supposed to air tonight. We, Ori and I, asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy or opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and standards and practices. It is factually correct, in my view, pulling it now after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision.

It is a political one. We requested responses to questions and our interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a veto. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. The administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story. We have effectively handed them a kill switch for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes, quote, the government must agree to be interviewed, then the government effectively gains control over the 60 minutes broadcast.

We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risk their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism. Give voice to the voiceless. And then it goes on to say, we have been promoting the story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship.

We are trading in 50 years of gold standard reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight, signed by Sharon right there. Now, I want to remind you what the FCC chair recently said at a hearing. This is Brendan Carr. Brendan Carr said that the FCC is no longer independent. and that the FCC will work with the Trump regime to attack any network that makes fun of Trump or that reports negatively about the Trump regime. Listen to Brendan Carr in his own words.

Here, play this clip. Is yes or no? Is the FCC an independent agency? Senator, thanks for that question. Yes or no is all we need. Yes or no, is it independent? Well, there's a test for this in the law, in the key portion of that test. Yes or no, Brendan?

The key portion of that test is... Okay, I'm going to go to Commissioner Trustee. So just so you know, Brendan, on your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC's independent. This isn't a trick question. Okay, the FCC is not, is not, is not an independent... Okay, is your website wrong? Is your website line? Possibly.

The FCC is not an independent agency. Okay, can I read this to you? The FCC's mission on the home page of the FCC, man. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress. Is that factual or is that a lie? The F.C. is not formally an independent agency. Is this true or is this a lie? I can, I'm having to answer your question. Okay. The synquinon of independence is being removable by the president. Chairman, I have a little bit of a time. I'll get back to you. The FDFC is not an independent agency formerly speaking. Appreciate you saying that and being honest with the American people. Now this is when Senator Klobuchar cross-examined Brendan Carr. Watch what he said here. Play this clip. Carr in 2022, you tweeted, political satire is one of the oldest.

and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship. Yes or no, do you still agree that political satire should be protected speech? Yes, Senator.

And whenever that satire or any other programming is over the public airways for broadcasters, there's a public interest standard, and there's a news distortion rule, a broadcast hoax rule, the political... You answered it, yes, and I'm just... opportunity rule. I'm going to go on. That particular instance, too, had to do with speech on social media where Biden administrations were trying to shut down political speech. Again, an area where

there is no license. There's no public interest standard. We'll get to that in a minute. You know, I believe, too, that there is no place in chilling political satire. But after Jimmy Kimmel's monologue, you went on a podcast and suggested that ABC should take Kimmel off the air saying, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Those were your words. Do you think it is appropriate to use your position to threaten companies that broadcast political satire? I think any licensee that operates on the public airways has a responsibility to comply with the public interest standard. And that's been the case for decades. I asked if you should, if you think it's appropriate for you to use your position to threaten

companies. And this incident with Kimmel wasn't an isolated event. You've launched investigations into every major broadcast network except Fox. Is that correct? I don't know if that's true or not. We do have investigations going on NPR and PBS. We have a number of investigations that are ongoing. I think if you step back over the years, I think the FCC has walked away from enforcing the public interest standard. And I don't think that's a good thing. Okay, you brought up social media. So do you think it's appropriate for after a horrific murder and the stabbing, the stabbing of Rob Reiner and his wife? Do you think it's appropriate for someone to say that it happened when they know better, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind-cripling disease known as Trump derangement syndrome? He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump with his obvious paranoia reaching new height.

Do you think that's appropriate for the President of the United States to do that? And if Jimmy Kimmel would have said that, would have you had threatened? and to take him off the air? Senator, look, Democrats on this dais are accusing me of engaging in censorship. And now you're trying to encourage me to police speech on the Internet. I'm simply not going to do it. I'm just asking you. I think they are cruel.

I think they hurt President Trump to say that kind of thing. I think it hurts him with trust from the American people. But this is the kind of stuff that's going on right now. And yet you are going after broadcast stations. Now, just a reminder, Barry Weiss is also a, or, was a competitor of the Midas Touch Network on substack. That's one of the reasons I'm saying. Go to Midasplus.com.

Subscribe to our substack and send a message now as well to Barry Weiss because she ran the free press. They're like, she's been doing this since like 2018 on substack. And believe it or not, the free press is number one. Midas is right there neck and neck with the free press. But we just started a year ago. And she started in 2018. So help us beat her, by the way. because I want to get her off the top.

So go to Midasplus.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel here. But Barry Weiss was appointed editor-in-chief, and she's a tool of the regime. She's a tool of the Trump regime at this point. And she was, in my opinion, I'm giving you my First Amendment right opinions right now, put in place to help Donald Trump and to help the regime, and to basically turn CBS into Fox News Light. And I put news in quotes. So let me share with you the stories of the people at Seacott that CBS is censoring.

This is from Human Rights Watch. You have arrived in hell, torture and other abuses against Venezuelans in El Salvador's mega prison. The nightmare began the moment they took me off the plane, Gonzalo Y, 26-year-old from Zulia State in Venezuela. The United States removed Gonzalo and 251 other Venezuelans to El Salvador in March in April 2025. When the plane landed, officers forced him and others to kneel with their heads down.

He said, he told one of them that he had a spine problem and cannot keep his head low, but one officer struck him with a baton in the back of a neck. On a bus to the maximum security persistent, known as the Center for Terrorism Confident, Centro de Confinemento Telerismo, Cicot, guards beat him again, he said. When we arrived at the entrance of Cicot, guards made us kneel so they could shave our heads. One of the officers hit me on the legs with a baton and I fell to the ground on my knees. Everyone, he said, was subjected to the same treatment. The prison director told us, you have arrived in hell. In Seacot, guards and riot police beat and abused the Venezuelans

constantly. The guards beat me many times in the hallways of the prison module and in the punishment cell. They beat us almost every single day. And it goes on to talk about how the United States was complicit in this and how these Venezuelans thought that they were going back to Venezuela, but they were put in this essentially concentration camp. They talk about how they were subject to constant beatings, including sexual violence. Many of these abuses constitute torture under international human rights law. And this is a story that CBS at first reported on, but now is covering up because the Trump regime is upset. When the Trump regime had every opportunity to participate this, to participate in this

in the first instance. So as I said, I think this video is one of the most important videos we've done at the Midas Touch Network because we're calling out CBS. We're calling out state regime media. And as I reflect as we reach the end of the year, what we've built together. And when I'm saying we, I'm talking about you. I think independent news has been one of the most important sources of getting the truth out. Could you imagine if there was an independent media right now?

And one of the things that I'm most proud about is not just the Midas Touch network in this community helping grow this network. By the way, make sure you hit subscribe now. Go to Midasplus.com. I am probably most proud of inspiring other independent media to rise for, corporate news anchors who are fed up to leave and start their own independent news that we can build this network of pro-democracy independent media voices together to stand up against these right-wing oligarchs but we're under attack each and every day each and every day that's why we need

your help that's why i keep saying it because they've got right-wing oligarch billionaires um hoisting up. We need your help. We do. Go to Midasplus.com and then also subscribe to this YouTube channel. So I know that was comprehensive and long, but I wanted to make sure I hit every aspect there. Thank you so much for watching. We'll keep on reporting fearlessly and never bend the knee to this gangster criminal fascist regime. Hit subscribe. Hey, Midas Mighty. It's Ben Breton, Jordy, and we just wanted to thank you for being the backbone of this movement. This year tested us more than ever, but together we prove that pro-democracy voices don't just compete, we win. We took on the entire Maga Machine, won a Webby for podcasts of the year.

The Midas Touch podcast. And you were with us every step of the way. And trust us, what we're working on next is bigger, bolder, and built for 2026. Let's keep this momentum going. Spread the word. We are just getting started. Shout out to the Midas Mighty!