Part of Trump’s 60 Minutes Interview That He Said Would ‘Embarrass’ Them, According to Full Transcript

The readout reveals several elements of Trump’s interview with the CBS show haven’t been shown

Donald Trump’s latest interview with 60 Minutes was only shown after several edits were made, including one that was personally approved and suggested by the president himself.

An official CBS News transcript shows that these changes apply to multiple versions of the conversation released online by 60 Minutes, including the 28-minute one that aired on TV, a 43-minute edit and a 73-minute “extended” edition.

Despite being “extended,” the third version was still marked as being “condensed for clarity” via an editor’s note on YouTube.

That version of Trump’s sit-down with Norah O’Donnell for the CBS show, which aired on Sunday, Nov. 2, was also shared by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account on X. There, it was marketed as the “FULL interview,” noting that it was shared “without the network’s edits and cuts.”

However, comparing the interview against the official transcript of the interview, which was shared by CBS News, reveals that there were still some edits.

One segment of the interview that was not included in the version that aired on TV or the 43-minute edit had to do with Trump’s lawsuit against CBS’ parent company, Paramount.

The president sued Paramount over what he viewed as deceptive editing of then-vice president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. The lawsuit was settled for $16 million in 2025.

Trump, 79, referenced the lawsuit, according to the official transcript. However, he made it clear that the answer didn’t need to be included in the final broadcast.

“Actually 60 Minutes paid me a lotta money. And you don’t have to put this on, because I don’t wanna embarrass you, and I’m sure you’re not — you have a great — I think you have a great, new leader, frankly, who’s the young woman that’s leading your whole enterprise is a great — from what I know,” Trump told O’Donnell.

He continued, explaining, “I don’t know her, but I hear she’s a great person. But 60 Minutes was forced to pay me — a lot of money because they took [Harris’] answer out that was so bad, it was election-changing, two nights before the election. And they put a new answer in. And they paid me a lot of money for that. You can’t have fake news. You’ve gotta have legit news.”

Despite being cut elsewhere, the exchange was included in the extended edition of the interview.

One segment that was edited in all videos of the interview had to do with a question regarding Trump’s pardon of billionaire tech executive Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who was jailed for four months after pleading guilty to charges of money laundering, according to reporting by USA Today.

Trump pardoned Zhao, who founded the crypto exchange business Binance, in October, sparking concerns of corruption due to the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto business.

Parts of the exchange about Zhao were included in the interview as it aired on TV and in the other cuts. Notably, via voice over, O’Donnell said that there have been concerns that Binance has “helped boost the profile of the Trump family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Finance.”

“I don’t know who he is,” Trump told her when asked about the pardon, adding that he had “heard it was a Biden witch hunt” that resulted in his prison time.

The conversation continued, with Trump saying that he “knew nothing about” his family’s crypto business, explaining he was “too busy doing the other…”

“Norah, I can only tell you this. My sons are into it. I’m glad they are, because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good. You know, they’re running a business, they’re not in government. And they’re good — my one son is a number one bestseller now,” he said, adding, “My wife just had a number one bestseller. I’m proud of them for doing that. I’m focused on this. I know nothing about the guy, other than I hear he was a victim of weaponization by government. When you say the government, you’re talking about the Biden government.”

Trump clarified that he was focused on making the United States “number one in crypto.” He implied that “[going] ” would “kill that industry,” saying that it would be “very bad” for the economy.

According to the transcript, there was more to this part of the conversation that was edited out of the video. It showed that Trump agreed to O’Donnell’s request to answer two more questions as the interview was winding down.

“These might be the ones I didn’t want. I don’t know. Okay, go ahead,” he said.

Per the transcript, Trump described Zhao as someone who was “treated really badly by the Biden administration” despite being “highly respected.”

“They sent him to jail, and they really set him up. That’s my opinion. I was told about it,” Trump said in the segment, which did not make it to air or onto any of the videos.

He continued, saying, “I said, ‘Eh, it may look bad if I do it. I have to do the right thing.’ I don’t know the man at all. I don’t think I ever met him. Maybe I did. Or, you know, somebody shook my hand or something. But I don’t think I ever met him.”

“I have no idea who he is. I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people, of a vicious, horrible group of people in the Biden administration,” Trump alleged, with none of this being included in the videos.

O’Donnell continued to push Trump on the fact that Zhao pleaded guilty to the charges, asking, “So not concerned about the appearance of corruption with this?”

“I can’t say, because — I can’t say — I’m not concerned. I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question. But I let you ask it. You just came to me and you said, ‘Can I ask another question?’ And I said, yeah. This is the question…” Trump replied, prompting O’Donnell to note that he did decide to answer.

He said, “I don’t mind. Did I let you do it? I coulda walked away. I didn’t have to answer this question. I’m proud to answer the question. You know why? We’ve taken crypto…”

Trump continued, repeating some of his talking points about keeping the United States ahead in the crypto industry.

Although she had asked for permission to ask two more questions, O’Donnell seemingly cut the interview short at that point, thanking Trump for his time.