Bye-Bye Scott! The Worst of CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent Pelley

Geoffrey Dickens
June 3rd, 2026 12:26 PM

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Scott Pelley’s hissy-fit got him fired from CBS News but his pomposity wasn’t his worst fault - it was his leftist bias that drove any right-of-center viewers away. Before his 60 Minutes correspondent duties, he anchored the CBS Evening News. 

From both perches, he trashed conservatives and Republicans like Donald Trump but also carried the water for leftist causes and candidates. 

The following are just a few of the most obnoxious outbursts during Pelley’s career at CBS News (via the MRC archives):

First up, please enjoy this quick montage of Pelley, beginning from the first days of the Trump administration: 

 

 

Scott Pelley Scares Students: “Our Country Is In Peril” from Trump

 

 

“Our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack, universities are under attack, freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak in America....In a moment like this, when our country is in peril, don’t ask the meaning of life. Life is asking, what’s the meaning of you?”
— CBS’s 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley during a commencement speech at Wake Forest University, May 19, 2025. 

 

“Too Soon to Tell” How Much Trump “Is In Defiance of the Constitution”

 

 

“It’s too soon to tell how serious President Trump is in defiance of the Constitution. In his first 28 days, he signed an order to nullify birthright citizenship for some — a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. And he has closed agencies and frozen spending that Congress mandated by law.” 
— Correspondent Scott Pelley on CBS’s 60 Minutes, February 16, 2025.

 

GOP House Speaker Race Endangering the World

“The President is asking for billions of dollars for Israel and Ukraine. But Congress is paralyzed. Hard-right Republicans are obstructing the election of a Speaker of the House. [To Biden]: Does the dysfunction that we’ve seen in Congress increase the danger in the world?”
— Former CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley during an interview with President Joe Biden on CBS’s 60 Minutes, October 15, 2023.

 

Spinning Befuddled Biden’s Blunders

 

 

“Joe Biden is among the longest-serving politicians in Washington. If there is less bounce in the step than there once was, if the words don’t flow like they used to, maybe there’s something to be said for knowhow, five decades on the Hill and in the Oval...You have lived a long life of triumph and tragedy. In November, you’ll be 80. And I wonder what it is that keeps you in the arena.” 
— Correspondent Scott Pelley in an interview with President Joe Biden on 60 Minutes, September 18, 2022.

 

Do Republicans Have “Women’s Best Interests at Heart?”

“A lot of women look at the Republican platform on abortion, contraception, a number of issues, and ask the question whether Republicans have women’s best interests at heart?”
— CBS anchor Scott Pelley in an interview with Ann Romney shown on the August 28, 2012 Evening News.

 

Pushing the PR Line On Hillary’s Big Night

“Night two of the convention, the floor is covered with shards of glass. Hillary Clinton has shattered another ceiling for women.”
— Co-anchor Scott Pelley: During CBS’s live Democratic convention coverage, July 26, 2016.

 

Bashing Brett Kavanaugh 

 

 

“You are rare for many reasons, but one of the reasons is you are a pro-choice Republican. Many of your opponents are going to say, ‘She’s pro-choice, she’s pro-women’s rights, and she just sent a man accused of sexual assault to the Supreme Court of the United States.’...There are many who believe that Judge Kavanaugh will be the vote that results in abortion becoming illegal in the United States. And I wonder if you’re concerned about that?”
— Correspondent Scott Pelley’s questions to Republican Senator Susan Collins on 60 Minutes, October 7, 2018.

“I’d like to ask both of you what you made of Judge Kavanaugh’s very emotional response and what it may or may not say about his judicial temperament. Does this man belong on the Supreme Court?”
— Correspondent Scott Pelley question to Sens. Jeff Flake-R and Chris Coons-D as aired on CBS’s 60 Minutes, September 30, 2018.

 

Questioning Trump’s Mental Stability

“Is it appropriate to ask whether the President is having difficulty with rationality?”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News, March 8, 2017.

 

Trump Snuffed Out Statue of Liberty’s Flame 

“Citing the terrorist attacks on 9/11, including the attack on the World Trade Center, President Trump drew an X today through the welcoming words of the nearby Statue of Liberty. He signed an executive order he says will keep out Islamic terrorists.”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News, January 27, 2017.

                                   

Framing Pardon of a Traitor as “Forgiveness”

“The Obama presidency is ending on a note of forgiveness.”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on Obama’s commutation of Bradley/Chelsea Manning’s sentence, CBS Evening News, January 17, 2017.    

 

Trump’s EPA Will Endanger Environment

Anchor Scott Pelley: “The President-elect filled more administration posts today, putting a global warming skeptic in charge of protecting the environment.”...
Correspondent Nancy Cordes: “The Sierra Club said today, ‘Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the EPA is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires.’” 
— CBS Evening News, December 7, 2016.

 

Hard to Spin When You Don’t Know What’s Coming Next

“Hillary Clinton is swinging at shadows if we don’t know what’s in these e-mails. How does she defend herself?”
— Anchor Scott Pelley’s question to correspondent John Dickerson on the CBS Evening News, October 28, 2016.

 

Threatened by a Chant? 

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley: “Madame Secretary, did you hear the Republican convention chanting ‘Lock her up’?”
Hillary Clinton: “I didn’t hear it because I wasn’t watching, but I certainly heard about it, yes.”
Pelley: “Did you feel threatened by that?”
Clinton: “No, I felt sad...”
— Exchange on CBS’s 60 Minutes, July 24, 2016.

 

“Hard to Justify” Why Those Under Investigation Still Have Rights

“The FBI had investigated the killer for possible ties to terrorism. Omar Mateen was on the terror watch list until the FBI cleared him. It seems hard to justify, but people on that terror list are still allowed to buy weapons.”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on the June 15, 2016 CBS Evening News.

 

“Proud” of “Tearful” Obama’s Attack on Gun Rights

“With silence more powerful than words, the President mourns victims of gun violence and takes action to stop it....The tears of the most powerful man in the world, powerless to get the United States Congress to tighten gun control laws....There have been 13 mass killings during the Obama presidency. Each time, Republicans voted against gun legislation, but last month, after San Bernardino, Mr. Obama decided to act on his own.”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News, January 5, 2016.

 

It’s Not That ObamaCare Killed Jobs, It’s That Workers Are “Choosing to Work Less”

 

 

“We got a report today about ObamaCare that was both surprising and widely misunderstood. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said about two million Americans are likely to pass up full-time jobs because of the President’s health insurance program. Those aren’t necessarily jobs being lost. They’re also workers choosing to work less.”
— Anchor Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News, February 4, 2014.

 

Pelley on Iranian Dictator: “Genuinely Humble” “No Fancy Clothes, Fancy Cars” “Absolutely Incorruptible” 

 

 

“He [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] is genuinely religious, genuinely humble, there are no fancy clothes, fancy cars, he lives with his wife and his three children. They live in an apartment in Tehran. He is a very modest man and said to be absolutely incorruptible as well, he’s a fascinating character.”
— Scott Pelley discussing his interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on CBS’s Early Show, September 24, 2007. 

 

Republicans Just Like Timothy McVeigh

“In April, terrorists tried to kill them. Today, politicians stopped their paychecks. In Oklahoma City's Social Security office, they're being ordered to work for nothing."
— Correspondent Scott Pelley reporting on the government shutdown on CBS Evening News, January 2, 1996. 

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