Lesley Stahl's unedited 60 Minutes interview with Trump was a disappointment: She let the president off easy

The New Republic

"Holy smoke! When the president posted the raw video (Thursday) morning, three days before the 60 Minutes segment was set to air, I could scarcely contain my excitement," says Timothy Noah. "But the interview did not live up to its putative victim’s billing. Stahl announced at the outset, 'I’m not gonna fact-check you,' and she kept her word. She showed little evidence of adequate preparation. Though she occasionally challenged certain things Trump said, she demonstrated insufficient command of the facts, and of Trump’s past statements, to hold Trump properly accountable. I take no pleasure in writing this. We all have bad days. And Stahl has always been a hero of mine, going back to her beginnings, during CBS News’s glory days, as a bulldog reporter on the Watergate scandal. It’s doubtful she got taken by surprise. We all know Trump is a firehose of misinformation, and Stahl in particular has always been savvy about the ways presidents manipulate the press."