CBS News Editor Bari Weiss Pulls 60 Minutes CECOT Prison Abuse Segment Hours Before Broadcast

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulls a 60 Minutes investigative segment about deportee abuse at El Salvador’s CECOT prison approximately three hours before its scheduled Sunday night broadcast. The segment, reported by veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, featured interviews with Venezuelan deportees who described beatings, sexual assault, and torture at the facility where the Trump administration has been sending migrants.

Weiss tells CBS staff the story “wasn’t ready” and did not “advance the ball,” demanding greater effort to obtain Trump administration commentary—despite Alfonsi having already contacted the White House, Department of Homeland Security, and State Department. In a leaked internal email, Alfonsi pushes back sharply: “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.”

The segment had already been shipped to Global Television Network in Canada on Friday. When CBS sent a “change order” on Saturday with a revised episode, Global TV aired the new version on its broadcast network but inadvertently posted the original Friday version to its streaming app. The pulled segment remained accessible for approximately two hours Monday before being removed, during which Canadian viewers recorded and shared it online.

CBS parent Paramount immediately begins filing copyright claims to remove the leaked footage from YouTube and social media platforms. The incident triggers widespread criticism that CBS leadership is shielding the Trump administration from unfavorable coverage, particularly given Weiss’s stated concern about lacking a Stephen Miller interview—suggesting administration approval was being treated as a prerequisite for critical reporting.

The segment featured Luis Munoz Pinto, a Venezuelan awaiting asylum proceedings with no criminal record, who described being detained by customs officers and then beaten and sexually assaulted at CECOT. Another deportee, a college student, described guards beating him and knocking out his tooth.