CBS Caught Selectively Editing Mike Johnson’s Interview on Disaster Relief and Election Integrity

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is taking CBS News to task for selectively editing his interview on key issues like disaster relief and election integrity. Johnson claims the network cut five critical minutes from his 15-minute interview on Face the Nation, which aired over the weekend. The selective edits, he argues, distort his full responses and omit important context on FEMA’s failures and efforts to clean up voter rolls.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Johnson expressed frustration over the media outlet’s decision to trim his answers. “They chose to cut FIVE important minutes out of my nearly 15-minute interview,” Johnson wrote. “You can be the judge as to why.”

The speaker posted three clips comparing what CBS aired versus his complete remarks. One of the most egregious examples involved Johnson’s criticism of FEMA’s slow response after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of North Carolina. In the CBS version, Johnson’s response appeared disjointed and incomplete. The network aired him saying, “So they obligated some funds, but they’ve only distributed 2%. The rescue and recovery effort is still going and then we address the rest of it.”

However, Johnson’s full answer posted in the side-by-side clip told a very different story. He detailed his visit to the disaster area, where he witnessed firsthand the lack of resources available to those in need. “When I was there 13 days post the storm hitting that state, people are still being rescued,” Johnson said, explaining how many residents were trapped in higher elevations. This vital context was cut, making it seem like Johnson was giving an incoherent response rather than highlighting FEMA’s failures.

The second instance of CBS’s selective editing occurred during a heated exchange over election integrity. When host Margaret Brennan pointed out that it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote, CBS aired Johnson’s brief reply: “Of course it is, but here’s the problem: There’s a number of states that are not requiring proof of citizenship when illegals or non-citizens register to vote.”

In reality, Johnson had much more to say. He brought up Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s recent efforts to clean up voter rolls and how the Biden administration’s Department of Justice sued the state to stop them. “That kind of thing creates a lot of doubt and concern in the minds of a lot of the American people,” Johnson explained, pointing to the Biden administration’s efforts to block common-sense election integrity measures.

CBS also cut Johnson’s defense of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill passed in the House that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. Brennan framed the GOP’s actions as undermining election integrity, but CBS left out Johnson’s explanation that Senate Democrats blocked the SAVE Act in an effort to keep loopholes open for non-citizens.

“They opened the border wide, a lot of people theorized that that was so that they could have noncitizens vote,” Johnson said, a statement that CBS conveniently left out of the broadcast.

While CBS did post the full, unedited interview on their Face the Nation YouTube account, the damage was already done on air. Selectively edited interviews are becoming a troubling trend in the mainstream media, where platforms like CBS craft narratives that fit their political agenda at the expense of presenting the full story.

Speaker Johnson’s confrontation with CBS underscores the broader frustration conservatives have with media bias. When key facts and arguments are selectively edited out, it’s no wonder many Americans are losing faith in the mainstream media’s ability to provide fair and accurate coverage.

Share this article or subscribe to our newsletter for more updates.