"Inside CECOT" is a segment that was originally intended to be broadcast on the December 21, 2025, episode of 60 Minutes, a television news magazine from CBS News. Presented by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, the segment discusses the experiences of detainees at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security prison in El Salvador used to confine Venezuelan migrants who had been deported from the US by the Trump administration in early 2025. Via interviews with former detainees and via photographic evidence, the segment describes systematic torture at the facility, independently corroborating earlier conclusions by Human Rights Watch.^[1][2]

Three hours prior to broadcast, CBS News announced that the segment had been pulled and would be broadcast at a later date; Alfonsi accused CBS News's new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of spiking the story for political reasons. Weiss claimed that the story "was not ready" for broadcast; sources within CBS News told outlets including the New York Times that two days before the anticipated broadcast, Weiss had asked the producers to arrange an interview with Trump administration operative Stephen Miller, who architected the deportation policy, or an administration operative of similar rank.^[3] Alfonsi stated in a email memorandum to colleagues that the production team did request comments and interviews from White House officials, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security (which were all refused).^[4][5]

On December 22, 2025, a cut of the episode that still contained the "Inside CECOT" story was accidentally made available online by Canadian broadcaster Global, causing the segment to be widely disseminated.

The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is a maximum security prison in El Salvador.^[6] Under the second Trump administration, the prison has held some deported from the United States.^[6][7]

In the lead-up to the acquisition of CBS parent company Paramount Global by Skydance Media, it was suggested that Paramount and CBS News had been increasingly currying favor with the second Trump administration in order to ensure regulatory approval, including settling a lawsuit accusing 60 Minutes of editing an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris to sway public interest.^[8][9] The program's executive producer Bill Owens left CBS News in April 2025, arguing that he could no longer "make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes."^[10] In October 2025, following the acquisition. Paramount Skydance acquired Bari Weiss's The Free Press, and hired Weiss as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.^[11][12][13]

On December 12, 2025, at the Walter Cronkite Award presentation, long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said that the program had yet to experience "corporate interference of any kind" since the Paramount Skydance takeover, explaining that "it's early yet, but what I can tell you is we are doing the same kinds of stories with the same kind of rigor".^[14]

Just under 14 minutes long, the segment first shows men in chains being "paraded in front of cameras, pushed onto buses, and delivered to CECOT".^[15] As described by The Verge, the segment then presents an interview with a former detainee. As the article describes his account:

He was beaten until he bled and...was thrown into a wall so hard he broke one of his teeth. He also described sexual assault by the guards. Another interviewed former detainee described what can only be called torture: being forced to kneel for 24 hours, and being put in a dark room, where they were beaten if they moved from the stress position.^[15]

Detainees are expected to sleep in bunks stacked four high without pillows or blankets, and lights are kept on 24 hours a day.^[2] Detainees do not have access to clean water.^[2] Alfonsi interviewed Juan Pappier, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch, and notes that 60 Minutes independently corroborated the conclusion of Human Rights Watch that CECOT was carrying out "systematic torture" on detainees, and that nearly half the men in CECOT do not have a criminal history.^[2]

On the afternoon of December 21, 2025, prior to the airing of the episode, CBS News announced the CECOT segment had been pulled from the episode, and would air at a later date, without disclosing a reason.^[4][5][16]

Weiss's decisions followed commentary by Trump implying that he ultimately held control over the outcome of a battle between Paramount Skydance and Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.^[17] In a Truth Social post, Trump was critical of the Ellison family (owners of Paramount Skydance) over his perception that 60 Minutes had unjustly portrayed him in a negative light. In the post, Trump stated:

For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!^[17]

In an email sent to colleagues, Alfonsi accused Weiss of intervening for political reasons, referencing the fact that the Trump administration had declined due-diligence requests for comment to provide a response to the piece.^[18][19] She argued that CBS was "trading 50 years of ‘Gold Standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.”^[17] Alfonsi explained that the story was "factually correct" and had been "screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices." She added:

Pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. [...] Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. [...] If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a 'kill switch' for any reporting they find inconvenient.^[18][19]

In a meeting the following morning, Weiss said that the report was pulled because it "was not ready", and that the piece did not "advance the ball" beyond what had been reported by other outlets.^[5] She elaborated:

The Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else.^[20]

At the meeting, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley again brought up the fact that Weiss had not turned up to any of the five internal screenings of the segment during the final stages of editing.^[21] Pundits have noted that her intervention came only after the piece had been finalized and promoted on social media.^[22]

Speaking to sources within CBS News, the New York Times pieced together a more detailed timeline of the story's progress.^[21] The first of five internal screenings that Weiss did not attend took place on December 12.^[21] Three days before the anticipated December 21 broadcast, Weiss watched the segment and sent suggestions that producers then incorporated into the segment's script.^[21] Two days before the anticipated broadcast, Weiss asked producers to interview White House operative Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's migrant deportation program, or an operative of similar rank.^[21][3] Miller later stated he didn't remember receiving any requests for comment from CBS for the story.^[23] Three hours before the anticipated broadcast, CBS News publicly announced the segment was postponed.^[3]

On December 24, Weiss sent a memo to staff defending her decision to pull the story and rejecting accusations that it was politically motivated, stating "We are not out to score points with one side of the political spectrum or to win followers on social media... We are out to inform the American public and to get the story right."^[24][25] The memo was signed by Weiss, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, and editors Charles Forelle and Adam Rubenstein.^[26]

On December 22, 2025, it was discovered that Canadian rightsholder Global Television Network had placed the original cut of the December 21 episode—where the CECOT segment remained unexcised—on the network's video on demand platform instead of the version that actually aired, resulting in video of the segment being widely shared on social media, archival platforms such as the Internet Archive and Distributed Denial of Secrets, and via torrent.^{[1][27][28][20][29][30]}

According to a statement sent by CBS News to The Globe and Mail, the Canadian network had been sent the original cut the preceding Friday; after being informed on Saturday that the episode would change, Global simulcasted the revised episode on its broadcast stations on Sunday night, but then "mistakenly published" the original version online the following day.^[31]

Global quickly removed the episode from its online platform. On December 24, 2025, the network's parent company, Corus Entertainment, released a statement saying: "We can confirm that an episode of 60 Minutes which was not intended to be published was briefly made available on the Global TV App on Monday and promptly removed when brought to our attention. We do not produce and make no editorial decisions whatsoever regarding this show."^[32]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2025)

Weiss's decision attracted widespread condemnation, including by American legislators and journalists.^{[5][21][33][34][35]} Weiss's actions have conversely been defended by conservative commentators both within and outside the Trump administration.^[22][23][36]

Both pundits and certain sources of note have questioned whether Weiss's actions represent an effort by CBS to quiet negative commentary on the administration to guarantee a favorable outcome in Paramount-Skydance's efforts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, and whether that represents an abandonment of the platform's commitment to journalistic integrity.^{[22][37][38][additional citation(s) needed]}

Stephen Miller called for CBS to fire all of the producers who "engaged in this revolt" against Weiss for pulling the segment, which he described as "another pathetic '60 Minutes' hatchet job". Regarding the deportees imprisoned at CECOT, he stated, "They know that these are monsters, who got exactly what they deserved."^[23]

Senator Brian Schatz wrote that "what is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson."^[33] Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich wrote "I'm old enough to remember when CBS News would never have surrendered to a demagogic president".^[39]

Senator Ed Markey wrote that the postponement was a "sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism".^[33] Anna M. Gomez, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated that reports about the postponed segment were "deeply alarming and strike at the heart of press freedom".^[40]

This section needs expansion with: * Additional journalistic / pundit commentary Conservative viewpoints independent of the Trump administration. You can help by adding to it. (December 2025)

Human Rights Watch executive director Philippe Bolopion said he was troubled by Alfonsi's allegations about Weiss's decision, "especially in light of pressures on press freedom in the US". A representative of Human Rights Watch was interviewed by Alfonsi in the postponed segment.^[1]

Writing for The Atlantic, political commentator Jonathan Chait claimed that Weiss afforded undue deference and weight to the perspectives of conservatives while denying the same legitimacy to arguments from left-leaning actors, implying that it represented a concerted pattern of behavior witnessed previously in her editorial process at The Free Press. He went on to argue that "conservatives would never accept a left-wing government using regulatory favoritism to pressure conservative media into softening their coverage of a Democratic administration."^[22]

• Tren de Aragua, Venezuelan criminal organization claimed by Donald Trump to represent a significant portion of the deportees sent to El Salvador
• J.G.G. v. Trump, Lawsuit challenging US deportations under the Alien Enemies Act
• Deportation in the second Trump administration
• March 2025 American deportations of Venezuelans
• Donald Trump's conflict with the media