Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran publicly criticized CBS’s “60 Minutes” on November 3, 2025, accusing the venerable news program of failing to adequately challenge President Donald Trump during a recent interview that came months after CBS’s parent company settled a controversial $16 million lawsuit with the president.
Speaking with CNN, Moran expressed frustration with what he characterized as a soft approach to interviewing Trump, pointing specifically to an unaired exchange where the president gloated about Paramount paying him “a lot of money” while correspondent Norah O’Donnell conducted the interview. The former ABC journalist suggested the interview lacked the necessary pushback when confronting Trump’s statements.
Moran indicated it was impossible to determine whether conservative journalist Bari Weiss, whom Paramount named as CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October, influenced the interview’s approach. He noted Weiss has been favorable toward the president in her coverage, though he stopped short of drawing direct connections.
When asked what he would have challenged during the interview, Moran emphasized the unique difficulties of interviewing Trump. “You don’t have to get in a fight with him. You don’t — you shouldn’t, right? You should treat him with the respect that the office deserves and that the people elected him deserve. But at the same time, you have to stand up to something because if you condone his falsehoods, that empowers him,” he said.
The former journalist drew parallels between Trump’s communication tactics and authoritarian leadership patterns, arguing that journalists must maintain their commitment to factual accuracy even when it risks displeasure from either the president or network executives.
Moran’s criticism comes six months after his departure from ABC News in June, which followed a controversial social media post he made calling Trump and senior White House aide Stephen Miller “world class haters.” The post described Miller as someone whose “hatreds are his spiritual nourishment” and suggested he “eats his hate.” The message was later deleted but drew immediate condemnation from Republican administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance.
ABC News initially suspended Moran for two days before announcing his contract would not be renewed. The network stated the decision was based on his social media post, which it described as a clear violation of company policies. In its statement, ABC emphasized its commitment to objectivity and impartiality, noting it does not condone subjective personal attacks.
Vance responded to Moran’s original post on social media, calling it “dripping with hatred” and urging viewers to remember the incident when watching ABC’s coverage of the Trump administration. Miller suggested Moran’s comments exposed what he characterized as bias within corporate media, claiming privileged anchors and reporters have been “radicals adopting a journalist’s pose.”
The decision sparked debate within journalism circles about the balance between reporters’ free expression and network policies regarding objectivity, with conservatives celebrating the move while others argued it represented capitulation to political pressure from the administration. The decision ended Moran’s 28-year career at the network, where he served as a “Nightline” anchor and senior national correspondent.
Moran had conducted his own interview with Trump in late April, roughly two months before his departure from ABC News. During that interview, the president notably told him he was receiving “the big break of a lifetime,” adding he selected Moran partly because he had never heard of him. That interview proceeded without significant controversy, contrasting with the criticism Moran now levels at other journalists’ approaches to interviewing the president.
