Lesley Stahl is being savaged today by officials, pundits and social media users, for her deferential interview of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
The backdrop of the interview was the scandalous arrest and killing of Mahsa Amini for the crime of not wearing a head covering. There are furious protests going on in Iran over the horrific incident.
Yet Stahl didn’t ask Raisi about the murdered woman at all. On top of that – brace yourself – she appeased the Iranians by wearing a hijab herself. Sadly, there are many in the media who are entirely bereft of judgment. But this takes the cake. If you dare to watch the video, be warned: It is a great challenge to look at her.
Morgan Ortagus, former spokesperson at the Department of State, called Stahl’s decision tone-deaf.
How incredibly tone deaf of Leslie Stahl, after the murder of Mahsa Amini, to sport a head scarf to this interview. https://t.co/I1CaqNdIHk
— Morgan Ortagus (@MorganOrtagus) September 19, 2022
In the video clip from Sunday’s program, we hear Stahl asking Raisi whether he believes the Holocaust actually happened, to which he responded that it is a mystery that could perhaps be investigated.
“There are some signs that it happened,” he said in a dismissive way. Perhaps 6 million Jews were slaughtered. Maybe. Probably not. Go ahead and investigate it, infidel.
Stahl’s excuse for a follow-up was to ask whether Israel has the right to exist as a nation.
“The people of Palestine are the reality,” said the despot. “This is the right of the people of Palestine who were forced to leave their houses and motherland. The Americans are supporting this false regime there, to take root and be established there.”
In other words, no. Again, no pushback from the shill of an interviewer. Clearly, she doesn’t want to hurt the Biden administration’s chances of advancing a new and improved Iran nuclear deal.
The interview didn’t get better the rest of the way. Stahl flashed no knowledge of Iran whatsoever. She seemed content to let Raisi score a propaganda home run on behalf of his terrorist state.
Gabriel Noronha, a fellow in the Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy at JINHA (Jewish Institute for National Security of America), was outraged. Noronha was fired from his post as Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group at the U.S. Department of State, a position he held from 2019-2021. There is no room for clear thinking at State under Biden.
I watched the entire interview – there was zero new ground on Iranian political views uncovered.
It was Raisi repeating his talking points unchallenged because Stahl didn’t know the material behind her pre-written questions.
Naturally, she fell for all their classic PR tricks.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) September 19, 2022
Lesley Stahl knew the answer Raisi would give, so asking that question WITHOUT significant pushback or highlighting the fact that The Iranian regime is a #1 state sponsor of global antisemitism is a lapse in journalistic ethics. https://t.co/5t7Go4L7gV
— Annika H Rothstein (@truthandfiction) September 19, 2022
In a subsequent tweet, Noronha took exception to several other exchanges during the interview, including nukes, Death Commissions, and assassination plans for U.S. officials.
Raisi pulled out the “fatwa against nukes” – CBS has to rely on post-production rebuttal.
Ditto when Raisi denies his role in the Death Commissions.
Ditto for the denial of planned assassinations of US officials.
She couldn’t even respond to his moral equivalence on hostages.
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) September 19, 2022
It should be remembered that Lesley Stahl interviewed President Donald Trump in October 2021. The president got so frustrated with her that he walked out. The interview was edited with incredible bias and dishonesty, to such a degree that Trump’s team decided to release the full tape, in order to prove how it really went. What a filthy contrast to the way “60 Minutes” treated the leader of a terrorist state!
All in all, it was a very bad night for CBS. Before the interview with Raisi, they ran an interview with President Biden, which was such a mess that his handlers have been in clean-up mode ever since.
‘Watch me’: Biden confronted on 60 Min. about mental acuity after string of gaffes, comments on 2024 run https://t.co/hbUJ09kIvI pic.twitter.com/eRIZH0OOvt
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) September 19, 2022
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