Welcome back to Monday Barf Bag.
In the latest chapter of Bari Weiss running CBS News into the ground, the New York Times on Saturday revealed the details of a conversation between White House Propaganda Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and the network’s new MAGA-thumping anchor, Tony Dokoupil.
“He [Trump] said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt told Dokoupil and his colleagues on Tuesday, minutes after they finished filming a 13-minute interview with the president. They discussed Iran, grocery prices, and why Trump is suing former Fed Chair Jay Powell.
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Dokoupil replied, to which Leavitt responded, “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’” Executive Producer Kim Harvey then replied, “Oh, great, OK!” and Dokoupil said, “He [Trump] always says that!” Nothing says we live in a healthy and functioning democracy like the president and White House press secretary openly threatening the media!
NYT: Karoline Leavitt warned Tony Dokoupil and the CBS News team to air their Donald Trump interview in full, or “we’ll sue your ass off.”
— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) January 18, 2026 at 12:33 AM
The NYT writes that some of the CBS staffers thought Leavitt was joking, but while you can hear some nervous chuckles in the recording, she remains silent. (Not to be that person… but can she laugh? Like, will her face physically let her?)
And barring the fact that normally, it’d be incredibly alarming for an administration to be caught red-handed threatening big media, these threats feel stupidly unnecessary for CBS, which—since Weiss took over as editor-in-chief in October—has proven more than happy to become a state-sponsored news network. Last week, the outlet published a piece claiming that the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good suffered internal injuries, only citing two anonymous “US officials” as the source. While other networks and publications treated the administration’s propaganda with skepticism, CBS published it as breaking news. The Guardian reported that the decision drew “huge internal concern.”
Leavitt, for her part, and like everyone else in MAGA, has always hated the press. During an interview with TikTok creator Kate Mackz in October, she showed off a meme hanging in her office of a man refusing a brain and saying, “No thanks, I won’t be needing that. I believe everything the legacy media shows.” Some of her latest hits include giving MAGA activist Riley Gaines a seat in the Press Briefing Room on Friday, defending Trump when he called a journalist “piggy” for asking about the Epstein files, and going off on a columnist at The Hill, and calling him a “left-wing hack” after he asked a question about Good’s death.
Currently, Trump is embroiled in lawsuits against the NYT, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC. He infamously sued CBS’ parent company, Paramount, in 2024, over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris—they settled with him for $16 million in July.
In a statement to the NYT, Leavitt defended the threats to CBS by saying, “The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full.” CBS also defended its spinelessness, saying in a separate statement, “The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety.” Sure, Jan.
More barf:
- Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, and other manosphere losers carpooled to a party in Miami, Florida, over the weekend. On their aux? Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler.” [Miami Herald]
- Elon Musk funneled $10 million into Kentucky’s Senate race. [Axios]
- ICE is using a new AI tool. Somehow, it’s even stupider than the recruits. [NBC News]
- Trump has added Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Tony Blair, and Jared Kushner to his “Board of Peace,” whatever that means. [The Times]
- Under Kash Patel, the FBI has “added payback to its portfolio,” and agents are asked to find negative information on Trump’s enemies. Great. [The New York Times]
- House Speaker Mike Johnson, worried about the slipping majority, told GOP representatives to show up unless it’s a matter of “life and death.” [NBC News]
- The White House hasn’t shut up about whole milk all weekend. [The Hill]
- Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem scolded a news anchor for revealing the name of the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. The name was already public. [CBS]
- FDA Commissioner Marty Makary suggested more drugs should be “over the counter.” [AP News]
