By Isabella Simonetti
A "60 Minutes" segment that was held in December by CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss aired Sunday, the core of the piece remaining untouched but with new material bookending it.
Weiss's decision to delay the segment on a prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants, including alleged gang members, ignited a political firestorm in recent weeks that played out inside CBS News and spilled into public view.
The piece was held after Weiss raised concerns about the comment-seeking process and determined it needed additional reporting. An early version was available to some viewers in Canada and circulated widely on social media.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent on the segment, criticized the decision last month as a political move. She has opposed making changes to a piece she felt was already solid as-is, resulting in an impasse, according to people familiar with the matter.
Alfonsi met in New York with Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, along with "60 Minutes" leaders, in recent days, the people said. Alfonsi also recently traveled to Washington, D.C., with a crew. Weiss tried to arrange on-the-record interviews for the segment, but those didn't pan out, the people said. Trump administration officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan have appeared on other CBS News shows in recent days.
The "60 Minutes" segment, titled "Inside CECOT," featured interviews with men who were deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration who shared their experiences with the megaprison and described its harsh conditions.
The updated version of the segment included about three additional minutes of material in introductory and closing remarks, bringing it to nearly 17 minutes in total. It included new statements from the White House and DHS and additional facts about deportees' criminal records. It also provided new details about tattoos, including a swastika and the number 666, on one of the former prisoners.
The original segment said DHS declined a request for an interview and directed inquiries to El Salvador. That line remained in the version that aired Sunday. Alfonsi also said in the new version that "60 Minutes" made several attempts to interview Trump administration officials on camera, but they declined.
"CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT piece as soon as it was ready," a network spokesperson said. "Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News' independence and the power of our storytelling."
Weiss became editor in chief at CBS News in October after CBS-parent Paramount bought her news and opinion site the Free Press for $150 million. She has been a frequent target of public criticism, particularly against the backdrop of Paramount's hostile pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The piece was initially scheduled to run on Dec. 21. Weiss told the executive producer of "60 Minutes" the day before that it would be held , after the segment had been promoted publicly.
Alfonsi said in an email to colleagues that weekend, the text of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal, that the segment had already been cleared by CBS attorneys and the newsroom's standards and practices team, which reviews stories for fairness and accuracy.
"If the standard for airing a story becomes 'the government must agree to be interviewed,' then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state," she wrote.
Weiss has defended her decision to hold the segment.
"No amount of outrage -- whether from activist organizations or the White House -- will derail us," Weiss said in a Dec. 24 email to staff. "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."
Write to Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 18, 2026 19:51 ET (00:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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