After the firing of 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, MS NOW dedicated much of its special primary election night coverage, helmed by Rachel Maddow with panels full of fellow nighttime opinion hosts like Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhle, to the Pelley news. During one segment, Psaki dramatically read from the former CBS employee’s first released statement with commentary intertwined throughout its reading.
As election coverage reached close to midnight, Maddow, with a coarse voice, handed the reading of Pelley’s statement to Psaki. It began with an explanation of the growth of 60 Minutes before he began his attacks on the new ownership of CBS and claimed the show, “lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause.”
Psaki then read more from Pelley, who alleged that the network told him to “inject falsehoods,” before she gave her own commentary:
"(...) For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told –" These are just incredible words to hear from Scott Pelley.
MS NOW's Primary Election Coverage was intertwined with the discussion of Scott Pelley's firing at CBS after his outburst.
— Nick (@nspin310) June 3, 2026
It included a dramatic 3+ minute reading from Jen Psaki of Pelley's statement after he was fired: pic.twitter.com/yIz0iqInQd
Ruhle and Maddow then asked for a repeat, as Ruhle asked, “Read that part one more time,” and Maddow agreed, “Yeah, just read that sentence again."
After Psaki repeated the line, she continued, with more interjections from Maddow:
PSAKI: He goes on to say, “I've been told to include assertions that are unverified.”
MADDOW: Wow.
(...)
PSAKI: Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.
MADDOW: Wow.
Psaki mentioned the viewership numbers for 60 Minutes, which averaged 9 million viewers last season, according to a CBS press release. Ruhle called the show “a financial powerhouse for the network.”
Psaki closed the reading of her statement, and the rest of the panel was still in dramatic shock.
Ruhle exclaimed, “How does the rest of CBS News come to work tomorrow?” The soon-to-be mid-morning host on the network then claimed the changes to 60 Minutes were the equivalent of Elon Musk’s DOGE: “They’re DOGEing CBS, right?”
In more of the election special that turned into CBS firings coverage, Jen Psaki called 'BS' on the idea that Scott Pelley and Cecilia Vega are "products of the left," before adding, "I had no idea what their politics were."
— Nick (@nspin310) June 3, 2026
Rachel Maddow then wanted MS NOW to hire Pelly pic.twitter.com/3pQVmz00UC
At the end of the segment on Pelley, Psaki gave a defense of the fired correspondents.
She called “preemptive BS” on those who would say that Pelley and Vega were “products of the left.” Psaki then added: “I had no idea what their politics were.”
In case anyone wondered what Pelley’s politics were, explore this MRC compilation of his worst and Vega’s moments of left-wing bias at CBS.
To close, Maddow implored her employer, MS NOW, to hire Pelley as she asked, “Scott Pelley, if you’re watching, come work for us.”
The panel laughed as Maddow said she did not have the power to hire him, as Ruhle then declared, “But if MS takes a vote, we all vote yes,” before the channel returned to primary election coverage.
While it seemed likely Pelley may be an avid MS NOW viewer of shows hosted by the likes of Maddow and Psaki, it seemed much more likely he is poised to take the resistance podcaster route on Substack instead, just like Jim Acosta, Katie Couric, Scott McFarlane, and Terry Moran before him.
The transcript from MS NOW’s special election coverage is below. Click “expand”:
MS NOW’s We The People 2026: Primary Night
June 2, 2026
11:53:54 PM Eastern
(...)
RACHEL MADDOW: Scott Pelley has put out a statement tonight, just in the last few minutes, in response to being fired. I would read it to you, but listen to me. I sound like I've been gargling with steel wool. Luckily, Jen Psaki is here and is going to read.
JEN PSAKI: I'm going to be your spokesperson, sort of.
This is incredibly powerful. We were just talking during the break about how everybody needs to hear every word, so I'm just going to read every single word so that the audience hears it. It starts this way.
“There's never been anything in America like 60 Minutes. The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58th season, 60 Minutes grew rapidly, with an unheard of 9% jump in. Viewers on CBS. “60” has been the number one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects.
Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently, to curry a moment of favor with the Trump Administration. The waste is heartbreaking. Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause.
Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias. They stood for professionalism against chaos. For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I've been told -”
These are just incredible words to hear from Scott Pelley.
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Read that part one more time.
MADDOW: Yeah, just read that sentence again.
PSAKI: “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
This is similar to what Cecilia Vega also had in her statement just last week.
He goes on to say, “I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. -”
MADDOW: Wow.
PSAKI: “ - To date, in every case, I've managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast, giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done.
Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.
MADDOW: Wow.
PSAKI: This is 60 Minutes. I mean, 9 million people, I believe, were watching as of last night.
RUHLE: And a financial powerhouse for the network.
PSAKI: And financial powerhouse.
“At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to keep up the good fight.
Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight, but now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable.
The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well. I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion, a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women at CBS News who encouraged and enriched, enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again. A day when sanity, competence, and courage return.
PANELIST: Wow.
RUHLE: How does the rest of CBS News come to work tomorrow?
PSAKI: How does the rest of 60 Minutes come to work. And how do the correspondents who are still there feel?
MADDOW: And how do the people who are doing this look themselves in the mirror?
RUHLE: Fine. Let me be clear. They’re a-okay.
MICHAEL STEELE: They’re good. They are good.
RUHLE: We talked about this during the break. I would liken this - this is the equivalent - this is - they’re DOGEing CBS, right?
Elon Musk came into the government not understanding how the government worked and bulldozed it, realized after mistakes, and just left a wasteland. Hated what he - hated the government he was tearing apart, and there was no evidence that they wanted to rebuild it. That's what we're witnessing here.
(...)
12:01:50 AM Eastern
MADDOW: Jen?
PSAKI: I was just going to say, I want to call some preemptive BS on what we're going to hear from the right, which is that, you know, anybody- that Scott Pelley, that Cecilia Vega are products of the left. That they are defending Democrats.
And I'm just going to say I worked for two Democratic presidents who were interviewed by them. I was grilled by some of them every single day. I had no idea what their politics were. They were tough as nails on every single person I worked for. They called out things that they didn't think should be happening in government. That's who they were. So, anybody who calls that out is - that is total BS. And I can tell you from experience.
MADDOW. Yeah.
And I would also say that Scott Pelley, if you're watching, come work for us.
I actually don't have the power to hire you.
[Laughter]
PSAKI: Sure you do. [Laughter] If anyone here does.
STEELE: You have the voice. [Laughter]
RUHLE: But if MS takes a vote, we all vote yes.
STEELE: We all vote yes.
MADDOW: Yeah. All right. As we are continuing our election coverage tonight, we are watching as results come in in California, that governor's race and that LA Mayor's election are both cases in which we're looking at top two finishers going to a runoff. That's the hallmark of all of these California races that we are watching.
(...)
