Less than two weeks into his role as anchor of CBS Evening News, Tony Dokoupil faced a direct legal threat from the White House.
After an interview with President Donald Trump at a Ford truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, on January 13, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt approached the CBS crew with a stern warning.
“He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Leavitt told the network.
Dokoupil assured her the interview would air as recorded. Then Leavitt delivered the threat in no uncertain terms.
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“He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your a*s off,’” she said.
Some CBS staffers reportedly tried to brush it off, and Dokoupil said, “He always says that!” but Leavitt’s grave tone confirmed the warning was genuine.
🚨 NEW AUDIO: Karoline Leavitt just threatened CBS News over Trump’s interview:
“Air it in full… or we’ll sue your ass off.”
The White House is now openly trying to bully the media into compliance.
This isn’t “transparency.” It’s intimidation. pic.twitter.com/8pMBBJzYhC
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 18, 2026
CBS has reason to take threats from Trump seriously. In 2024, the network settled a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris for $16 million. ABC paid the same amount for comments by George Stephanopoulos. Courts questioned the legal merit of both cases, but the Trump administration proved willing to spend millions to punish media it disliked.
Afterward, Paramount, CBS’s parent company, was sold to Skydance Media, led by Trump ally David Ellison. Ellison later appointed Bari Weiss, a conservative opinion writer with no broadcast experience, as CBS News editor-in-chief. Critics said it showed the network was bending to political pressure. Weiss denied any shift in ideology.
CBS is not alone. Trump and his allies have threatened or sued multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, ABC News, and The Daily Beast. Legal intimidation has become a common tactic to control coverage.
Despite the threat, CBS aired Dokoupil’s 13-minute interview in full. It ran nearly half of the 30-minute broadcast.
On camera, Dokoupil asked Trump about grocery prices, Iran, and the Minnesota immigration crackdown. Trump boasted about his economic record and claimed Dokoupil “wouldn’t have a job right now” if Kamala Harris had won in 2024.
“For the record, I do think I’d have this job even if the other guys won,” Dokoupil replied.
Trump shot back: “Yeah. But at a lesser salary.”
The exchange was telling. Not because of Trump’s jokes, but because of the off-camera pressure. Threats of lawsuits, warnings, and an overall climate of intimidation make clear how Trump treats the press.
Features image via X screengrab
