UPDATE – 9/2/2025, 6:07 PM EST: CBS News reached out to PJ Media and insisted that Secretary Noem’s “Face the Nation” interview was edited for time and met all CBS News editorial standards. The entire interview is also publicly available on YouTube, and the full transcript is available on the network’s website.
The original article appears below.
Two months ago, Paramount settled President Trump’s lawsuit for $16 million over a deceptively edited “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, which was spliced to make her appear more coherent.
Yet, it seems CBS learned nothing from that debacle.
CBS News is once again up to its old tricks, heavily editing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s interview on “Face the Nation.” CBS cut critical information about illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia to downplay the sheer scale of his criminal behavior, twisting the truth to sanitize a serious public safety threat.
Noem spoke about Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national connected to the MS-13 gang and charged with human smuggling. Yet CBS aired only a brief snippet of what she said about him. Here’s her entire quote, with the aired portion in bold.
And the one thing that we will continue to do is to make sure he doesn't walk free in the United States of America. This individual was a known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors. And even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off, he was so sick in what he was doing, how he was treating small children. So he needs to never be in the United States of America, and our administration is making sure we are doing all that we can to bring him to justice.
Let’s not pretend this was some minor trimming for the sake of time; it was a deliberate attempt to whitewash a violent man’s record and obscure the dangers he poses. Noem publicly condemned the network for this journalistic malpractice, calling out CBS for “shamefully” editing the interview to distort the facts.
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“This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” she said Sunday. “Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
Secretary Noem posted a comparison video of her response on X.
This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 31, 2025
Watch for the part of my interview that @CBS tried to… pic.twitter.com/28fsGZug48
This incident is not an isolated mistake—it’s part of a well-worn pattern. Just like the fiasco with the Kamala Harris interview, the deliberate sanitizing of Abrego Garcia’s profile shows how legacy media outlets manipulate content to protect their preferred political figures and narratives.
That this happened so soon after the settlement with Trump tells you just how little they care about the facts. By whitewashing the facts about MS-13 and other violent gangs, the media denies Americans the transparency they need to confront the actual threats pouring across our border. It’s a betrayal of trust, plain and simple.
Will CBS face another lawsuit over this? I think they should.
CBS’s pattern of deceit continues, this time sanitizing a dangerous MS-13 gang member’s crimes. This is more than careless editing—it’s a media betrayal of the American people. PJ Media fights back with fearless, fact-based reporting. Support the truth and join PJ Media VIP today. Use promo code FIGHT for 60% off and get ad-free content and exclusive perks.
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