Scott Pelley got exactly what he was angling for. Now he wants to relitigate it.
Less than 24 hours after CBS News terminated his contract for cause on Tuesday night, the longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent released a statement Wednesday accusing CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of lying to her own staff about what happened in the Tuesday meeting that ended his career at the network.
Weiss opened a Wednesday morning staff call by addressing the firing directly. Her version: CBS tried to find a path forward after Monday's all-hands blowup, couldn't get there, and Pelley chose the outcome himself.
According to remarks confirmed from the staff call:
"Before we get into it, I need to address what's transpired in our newsroom over the past two days and what is making news. I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here, when I say that I'm only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect.
"We cannot do our work without it. That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren't able to do so, and so we had to part ways. We did not want that to happen, but that's the path that he chose."
Pelley's response landed hours later. He essentially called her a liar.
In a statement released Wednesday morning:
"Bari Weiss knows what she said is not true. In the meeting on Tuesday, in which I was effectively fired, there was no effort of any kind to 'find a way back,' as Weiss said in the editorial meeting. At no point did anyone in the Tuesday meeting suggest that there could be steps taken by either side that would lead to a resolution."
According to Pelley, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski raised the possibility of firing him in the first 15 seconds of the Tuesday meeting. Pelley says Weiss, Cibrowski, and new "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton were "openly hostile from the start" and stonewalled every question he put to them about the May 28 mass firing of the show's senior leadership.
He documented the exchange in his statement:
"In fact, Weiss, Cibrowski and Nick Bilton refused to answer my questions. I asked Weiss a number of questions about why she fired the entire senior staff of 60 Minutes a few days before and without cause.
"'I'm not answering that question,' she said.
"I asked why she did not come to 60 Minutes' offices to explain her actions.
"'I'm not answering that question.'
"Why did she fire 60 Minutes Executive Producer Tanya Simon?
"'I'm not answering that question.'"
As RedState reported Tuesday night, Pelley had set the stage for all of this himself. When Bilton held his first all-hands meeting with "60 Minutes" staff on Monday — his first week on the job, having officially taken over the previous Thursday — Pelley used it to publicly challenge Bilton's credentials, tell him he would "never be welcome" at the program, and accuse Weiss of "murdering" the show. Bilton had invited Pelley to dinner the previous week to talk one-on-one. Pelley declined. He chose Monday instead.
Update: Peacocking '60 Minutes' Journo Struts Straight Into Consequences After Combative Meeting
Bilton extended no further invitations after that. Tuesday night, he sent Pelley a termination letter obtained by the New York Times.
The letter stated:
"You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.
"Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated effective immediately."
Dylan Byers confirmed that after the Tuesday meeting broke down, Weiss and her team deliberated for several hours before Bilton sent the termination letter at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET.
Pelley's firing is the most consequential move of Weiss's tenure so far. It follows a week that already saw the ouster of executive producer Tanya Simon, executive editor Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega on May 28. Anderson Cooper had already exited voluntarily at the end of the season. Bilton now takes over a weekly broadcast that has lost four on-air correspondents in under a month. "60 Minutes" was up 9 percent in viewership this past season from the year prior, according to Nielsen.
Pelley, in a phone interview Tuesday evening, leaned hard on his biography:
"I have been in combat in Afghanistan. I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast."
Former correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, fired May 28 alongside Cecilia Vega, posted on Instagram Wednesday:
"He was fired for asking questions, which is the job. If you need one sentence that tells you exactly what CBS News has become under Bari Weiss, that's it."
CBS News declined to comment to the Times. Puck News's Dylan Byers flagged the language in Bilton's termination letter as a signal of litigation ahead. Pelley chose a public fight over a private dinner. Now he may get a courtroom instead.
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