Donald Trump Threatened to Sue CBS If Interview With Tony Dokoupil Didn't Air in Full: 'Make Sure You Don't Cut the Tape'

Donald Trump threatened to sue CBS if the network didn't air his recent interview in full with anchor Tony Dokoupil.

The 13-minute-long chat was filmed in Dearborn, Mich., and was broadcast on January 13.

According to audio obtained by The New York Times, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt allegedly spoke to Dokoupil, 45, after the interview.

"Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full," she said.

"Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah," the journalist had responded.

Leavitt, 28, then warned that the president, 79, said: "If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your a-- off."

Dokoupil apparently joked in the audio recording that Trump "always says that!"

CBS Evening News executive producer Kim Harvey added: "Oh, great, OK!"

"The moment we booked this interview, we made the independent decision to air it unedited and in its entirety," a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement.

Leavitt told The New York Times about the audio: "The American people deserve to watch President Trump’s full interviews, unedited, no cuts. And guess what? The interview ran in full."

In 2024, Trump sued the network over how a 60 Minutes production segment with then-Vice President Kamala Harris was edited. The company's settled for an eye-popping $16 million after Trump alleged that the piece was doctored to make him appear deceptive.

In his talk with Dokoupil, the businessman spoke about the status of the United States, boasting: "Tony, we now have the hottest country in the world. And a year-and-a-half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country. You wouldn't have a job right now. If [Kamala Harris] got in, you probably wouldn't have a job right now."

"Your boss, who's an amazing guy, might be bust, OK?" Trump went on, referring to Paramount's new CEO David Ellison. (Paramount is the parent company of CBS and all of their affiliates.)

Trump continued: "Let me just tell you — you wouldn't have this job. You wouldn't have this job — certainly whatever the h--- they're paying you. Our country is rocketing right now. We have the hottest country in the world. If they got in, we'd be Venezuela on steroids."

"For the record, I do think I'd have this job even if the other guys won," Dokoupil rebuked, to which Trump replied: "Yeah — but at a lesser salary."