'60 Minutes' CECOT segment pulled by Bari Weiss airs in Canada, spreads across internet

CBS editor-in-chief said ‘60 Minutes’ story was ‘not ready’ as staffers allege political motive ‘Fox News @ Night’ panelists discuss the controversy surrounding ‘60 Minutes’ shelving a piece on Trump deportations to an El Salvador prison shortly before it was set to air. Viewers got a chance to see the "60 Minutes" segment about CECOT that divided CBS News, after the segment aired in Canada and quickly spread online Monday. The "Inside CECOT" segment that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled from airing on Sunday's "60 Minutes" episode, leading to a sharp rebuke from its correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi , was delivered to Canada's Global TV app. Internet figures recorded it to make it available across the web before it could be pulled down again. Independent journalist Yashar Ali, who posted the video, reported this was "only part of the overall story" but this is what exists so far. In the segment, which can be viewed here and runs 13 minutes and 39 seconds, Alfonsi interviews two Venezuelan men who were deported by the Trump administration to the notorious El Salvador prison. She said they endured "four months of hell," with the subjects describing assaults, disgusting living conditions and constant degrading behavior by guards. Sharyn Alfonsi, left, interviewing a man who was imprisoned in CECOT. (Screenshot/60 Minutes) Another said that inmates who stepped out of line were taken to "The Island," which he described as a small room with no light or ventilation, a "cell for punishment." "The torture was never-ending," one said of the place, and he claimed they were purposefully beaten in their private areas by the guards. The segment that's being spread online has no sit-down interviews with Trump officials or any administration statements beyond brief clips of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and President Donald Trump . Axios reported that the White House, Department of Homeland Security and State Department all provided statements to CBS, but none of them were included in the story. Fox News Digital reached out to CBS and the three press offices for those entities for comment. Alfonsi notes the Department of Homeland Security declined an interview request and referred CECOT questions to the El Salvadoran government, which didn't respond to its request. Sharyn Alfonsi has accused Bari Weiss, right, of holding her "60 Minutes" story for political, not editorial, reasons. (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images;Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press) CBS, BARI WEISS FACING MOUNTING BACKLASH FROM LIBERAL CRITICS OVER YANKING '60 MINUTES' SEGMENT Alfonsi recounted that the prison's cramped conditions and reputation for brutal treatment have put it under the microscope of human rights watchdogs . At one point, she repeated a report that "nearly half" of the 252 Venezuelans sent to the prison didn't have a criminal history, and she interviewed deputy Human Rights Watch Director Juan Pappier, who authored a report about torture at CECOT. "Rapid deportations have been a key part of the Trump administration's immigration overhaul," Alfonsi says in the report. "The administration considers anyone...

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