Why Did Trump Abruptly End His '60 Minutes' Interview?

President Donald Trump abruptly stopped the taping of an interview with CBS News' “60 Minutes” on Tuesday before he claimed on Twitter that the event was “fake and biased.”

Lesley Stahl and her camera crew were filming what was supposed to be a 60-minute interview with Trump at the White House. But he ended the conversation around the 45-minute mark and told the network there was already enough footage to use.

The president then taunted the host on Twitter, where he posted a five-second clip that showed Stahl not wearing a mask behind-the-scenes. Trump also threatened to post the entire interview before its scheduled airing on Oct. 25.

According to The New York Times, a source familiar with the incident said the short footage that Trump tweeted showed Stahl chatting with her producers immediately after the interview. The source said she did wear a mask when she entered the White House and before the filming began.

Multiple people with knowledge of the taping said the president had abruptly cut off the interview after he got frustrated with Stahl’s questions, the Times reported. Meanwhile, a White House official described the host as “very antagonistic” and said she was not prepared for the interview, Politico reported.

“60 Minutes” had also taped interviews with Democratic challengers Joe Biden and Kamala Harris separately. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were scheduled to be interviewed together for a walk-and-talk session. The president, however, refused to return for that segment following the Tuesday incident.

All four are scheduled to appear on “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

Stahl had previously interviewed Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election. She also filmed an interview with the president in October 2018 at the White House, where they discussed key topics, including the U.S. economy, and his relationships with presidents Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Trump was also asked whether he thought climate change was a hoax, to which he answered:

“I think something’s happening. Something’s changing and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s manmade,” Trump said in the interview with CBS News.

“I will say this. I don’t wanna give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t wanna lose millions and millions of jobs. I don’t wanna be put at a disadvantage,” he added.