The decision by CBS News chief Bari Weiss to pull a 60 Minutes segment about the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan men to CECOT, the mega prison in El Salvador, is receiving a lot of negative feedback from critics concerned that Weiss, who said the segment needed more review, is protecting the administration and operating CBS as a MAGA propaganda arm. Among those critics is the journalist who filed the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, who said the decision to was “political.”
As seen in the email below, written by Alfonsi, she warns that 60 Minutes is in peril of becoming “a stenographer for the state.”
BREAKING
Sharyn Alfonsi, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, sent an internal email to colleagues stating that CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss “spiked our story” about the Trump administration and the transfer of deportees to a prison in El Salvador.
In the email — which was… pic.twitter.com/y8pT8Vi9fX
— Yashar Ali
(@yashar) December 22, 2025
Brian Stelter, Chief Media Analyst at CNN, wrote: “Everyone at CBS News knows how ’60 Minutes’ works — how the pieces are screened, when the PR listings are sent out, what the rigorous internal processes are like. This piece was done. Sharyn Alfonsi had already flown home to Texas by the time Weiss insisted on changes.”
Philippe Bolopion, Executive Director at Human Rights Watch, said: “The allegation that CBS pulled its 60 Minutes segment featuring Human Rights Watch and Cristosal’s CECOT report for ‘political’ reasons is troubling, especially in light of pressures on press freedom in the US. We look forward to the segment airing. The evidence is clear regardless of what airs on 60 Minutes: the Trump administration disappeared these Venezuelan men to a mega prison in El Salvador where they were systematically tortured.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not respond directly to Weiss, but took to social media to promote the PBS Frontline short documentary Surviving CECOT and wrote: “Curious to learn more about CECOT? Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison.”
Curious to learn more about CECOT?
Hear Juan, Andry, and Wilmer share firsthand how the Trump administration branded them as gang members without evidence and deported them to the brutal El Salvadoran prison. https://t.co/M0axYtHxYm
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 22, 2025
The documentary, which was produced for Frontline by ProPublica, tells the story of three Venezuelan men — Juan José Ramos Ramos, Andry Blanco Bonilla and Wilmer Vega Sandia — who were branded by the U.S. government as Tren de Aragua gang members and deported by the Trump administration to CECOT, although all three said they had no connection to Tren de Aragua and were not gang members.
The men tell stories of being subjected to solitary confinement and violence while in custody. One of the men, speaking of the prison guards, said: “They beat me for nearly two hours. Every guard on duty would take turns hitting us. Even the prison director hit us many times.”