President Trump bluntly told Tony Dokoupil of “CBS Evening News” he owes his new job — and his paycheck — to Trump’s 2024 election victory, making the assertion straight to the news anchor’s face during a live interview.
The remarks came during an exclusive sit-down Tuesday at a Ford plant in Detroit, where the president linked Dokoupil’s recent promotion to the Trump-era approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger and seemed to take a dismissive tone about the anchor’s compensation.
Asked about the overall economy, Trump took a highly personal approach with Dokoupil, whose hiccups since taking the anchor gig have generated a steady stream of headlines.
The Republican president said the anchor “wouldn’t have a job right now” if Democrat Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election.
“Tony, we have now 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 she got in, you probably wouldn’t have a job right now,” Trump riffed.
He then appeared to allude to Paramount-Skydance CEO David Ellison, who acquired CBS News in a merger that the Trump administration approved last summer.
“Your boss, who’s an amazing guy, might be bust, okay?” Trump asserted.
“Might be what?” the anchor asked.
“Might be bust,” the president said. “I doubt it in his case, but you never know. Let me just tell you, you wouldn’t have this job, you wouldn’t have this job — certainly whatever the hell they’re paying you.”
Dokoupil sought to push back later in the interview — only for the president to needle him one more time over his salary.
“For the record, I do think I’d have this job if the other guys won,” the anchor said — to which Trump quickly shot back, “Yeah, but at a lesser salary.”
The Post has sought comment from CBS News and Paramount Skydance.
In late 2024, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Harris, accusing the network of deceptively editing the segment to interfere in the election.
Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company at the time, initially vowed to fight the suit but reversed course after the election, settling the case in July for $16 million.
The payout drew sharp criticism inside the newsroom and sparked resignations from CBS News president and CEO Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens.
Weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission approved the long-pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, a deal valued at roughly $8 billion that placed control of CBS and its news division in Ellison’s hands.
He quickly moved to reshape the network’s leadership, appointing Bari Weiss to the newly created role of editor in chief of CBS News in October, signaling a major shift in editorial direction and ruffling feathers among the rank and file.
Weiss soon asserted hands-on control, intervening in coverage decisions and launching a broad overhaul of the network’s flagship broadcasts, including “CBS Evening News,” which had struggled in terms of ratings under its previous co-anchor format.
In December, Weiss elevated Dokoupil — a “CBS Mornings” co-host since 2019 — to the evening anchor chair, a promotion that put him at the center of the network’s transformation.
