CBS News has been accused by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of selectively editing an interview with Secretary Kristi Noem on its “Face the Nation” program. According to a statement released by DHS, CBS cut nearly four minutes from Noem’s 16 minute and 40 second interview during the August 31 broadcast.
The department alleges that more than 23% of Secretary Noem’s answers were removed, including comments regarding criminal illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, President Donald Trump’s actions related to public safety, and Noem’s statements about her work for American taxpayers.
“This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “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.”
A comparison video was posted online for viewers: https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1962256536475926676
One section omitted from the broadcast concerned Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The following statement was not aired:
“This individual was a known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual whowas a wife beater, and someone who was um 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 and how he was treating small children. So, uh, he needs to never be in the United States of America and our administration is making sure we're doing all that we can to bring him to justice.”
Another cut involved remarks on arrests made in Los Angeles:
“...And many of these individuals were people who have, you know, conducted horrific um horrific activities against American citizens, trafficking of children and pedophiles. And so that's uh one of the things that the people of a LA can be grateful for is that they don't have those bad actors, those people on their streets anymore because of the work of President Trump and his administration.”
Additional omissions included Secretary Noem’s statements about taxpayer accountability:
“...You know, in Washington, D.C., I rarely run into anybody who says, ‘I'm a lobbyist for the American taxpayer.’ Well, guess what, Kristi Noem is. Every day I get up and I think the American people are paying for this. Should they? And are these dollars doing what the law says they should be doing? I'm going to make sure that they go there and they're spent what's appropriate according to the law and that the taxpayers understand that it's a worthwhile effort.”
Comments concerning expectations for DHS employees were also excluded:
“...And my hope is that every single person within the Department of Homeland Security, but also in this government gets up every day wanting to make America safer, wanting to do their job and to contribute to that in a very productive way.”
A full answer about hiring standards at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as it aims to hire 10,000 new officers by year-end did not air during CBS’ broadcast:
O’KEEFE: “All right. So, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is aiming to hire another 10,000 officers by the end of this year…Did the hiring standards get lowered in part to meet this daily quota of 3,000 arrests?”
NOEM: Oh, what we've done as far as recruitment…we did not reduce any of the qualifications or time frames. What we did was that we made sure that we were being much more efficient in getting these officers out on the street and giving them more opportunity to get trained uh quickly and recognize the previous training thatthey had…So, I think that streamlining is what needed to happen…”
CBS also left out a transition remark from host Ed O’Keefe.
Secretary Noem's allegations come amid ongoing scrutiny over media editing practices involving political interviews.
