By Axios | Created at 2024-09-22 13:34:14 | Updated at 2024-09-30 07:22:59
1 week ago
Vice President Harris and former President Trump are both considering "60 Minutes" interviews that would air back-to-back on Oct. 7 as a campaign grand finale, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: With Trump ruling out a second debate with Harris, the CBS News juggernaut — which remains the nation's top-rated news show, drawing 11 million viewers last week for its 57th-season premiere — would give the campaigns one last mass audience, 29 days before Election Day.
The Harris campaign is in active talks with "60 Minutes." Trump sources say an interview is TBD.
- But a source familiar with the Trump negotiations teased: "Nobody gets ratings like President Donald J. Trump."
Flashback: In 2020, a "60 Minutes" episode featuring interviews with Trump and Joe Biden drew 17.4 million viewers — the show's biggest audience in over two years.
- The Trump-Harris debate on Sept. 10 was watched by 67.1 million viewers across 17 networks, according to Nielsen's tally.
Between the lines: Trump loves legacy media and "60 Minutes" remains the granddaddy of news broadcasts, fueled each fall by the show's NFL lead-in.
- The interview could be attractive for Harris to help squelch questions about avoiding tough interviews.
The backstory: "60 Minutes" took the unusual step of disclosing the interview overtures in a story by AP's David Bauder on Sept. 12.
- Scott Pelley has been assigned to interview Trump, and Bill Whitaker would interview Harris. Whitaker interviewed Harris last fall — providing a familiarity factor to help entice the campaign.
- The VP candidates, Tim Walz and JD Vance, are also invited to participate.
"60 Minutes" is hoping for the best, even after Trump got agitated during his 2020 interview with Lesley Stahl, and posted his own video of the interview before the episode aired.
- "I'm confident that this is going to work," Bill Owens, the show's executive producer, told AP. "For either campaign, it wouldn't be a great look if they turned down an opportunity to be on "60 Minutes."
The latest: Harris yesterday accepted a CNN invitation for a second debate, on Oct. 23. But Trump said later at a rally in Wilmington, N.C.: "The problem with another debate is that it's just too late — voting has already started."
- The VP debate will be Oct. 1 in New York City, hosted by CBS.
Harris will skip the white-tie Al Smith charity dinner in Manhattan on Oct. 17, a traditional stop for presidential candidates, to campaign in a battleground state.
- A campaign official tells Axios that Harris' team "told the organizers that she is willing to attend their event as president. This would make her one of the first sitting presidents to attend."
