Scott Pelley’s career at CBS and ’60 Minutes’ ended amid charges of partisan reporting, repeated soft treatment of Democrats, and aggressive attacks on conservatives that many saw as advocacy rather than journalism.

It’s easy to see why his firing drew little sympathy from critics who watched his work for years. Pelley often behaved like an advocate for Democratic talking points, not an impartial reporter. Oh, and he was virulently anti-Trump.

“It has been a busy day for presidential statements divorced from reality,” is just one of the many things Pelley said. But the kicker comes at the end. “He’s described the news media as the enemy of the American people. He has likened his own intelligence agencies to Nazis, and now we have the wiretapping charge against Obama,” Pelley said before dramatically taking off his glasses. “Is it appropriate to ask whether the President is having difficulty with rationality?”

The pattern is obvious: when the media pressed Trump, they leaned on phrases like “without evidence” and demanded constant proof. Trump could offer an obvious point and Pelley would bring in a guest to dissect every syllable. That kind of relentless skepticism never seemed to land on the same scale when the questions involved Democrats.

https://x.com/GCDickens/status/2062204812301676763

But speaking of rationality, here’s Scott Pelley sitting down with Joe Biden.

“We’ve also reduced the debt, reduced the deficit by $350 billion my first year. This year it’s going to be over a trillion, $500 billion reduce the debt. So to continue to put people in a position to be able to make a decent living and grow,” Biden said. Pelley didn’t fact-check that. When Biden said the COVID pandemic was over, Pelley didn’t bat an eye.

“We went with Mr. Biden to the Detroit Auto Show last Wednesday,” Pelley said in a voiceover. “He celebrated his new funding of a network of charging stations for electric vehicles. But the newly crowded convention center brought a different question to mind.” “Mr. President, first Detroit Auto Show in three years,” Pelley said. “Is the pandemic over?” “The pandemic is over,” Biden said.

There was no real follow-up or pushback on that exchange. And the follow-through on Biden’s EV promises is revealing: the 2021 Infrastructure Law set aside $7.5 billion for charging stations, yet by April of 2025 fewer than 400 ports were publicly available from that program. That’s roughly $19.5 million per port, a gap between rhetoric and results Pelley rarely pressed on.

Listen to how he framed gas prices when he asked about them to Biden:

“Mr. President, the price of gasoline is down about 26 percent from the $5 high. What can you do to keep that price down while Vladimir Putin is throttling energy supplies?” Democrats loved blaming “Putin’s price hikes” when prices spiked, insisting presidents had no control. Yet when prices fell, presidents were handed the credit. That convenient narrative rarely met journalistic scrutiny from Pelley.

There are more examples of Pelley spoon-feeding Biden talking points while disguising it as journalism.

“Have you been briefed, sir, on the top secret documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago?” Pelley asked. “No one has come to you to warn you that important national security secrets were revealed by the storage of those documents at the former President’s home?” Pelley then asked. “Were you notified of the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago?” was the next question. Those lines looked designed to flatten the story and shift attention away from potential politicization of the DOJ.

Pelley could challenge Trump on rationality and use hard rhetoric, yet his interviews with Biden read like careful rehearsals. “You are more aware of this than anyone,” Pelley began. “Some people ask whether you are fit for the job and when you hear that, I wonder what you think.” “Watch me,” Biden replied. “How would you say your mental focus is?” Pelley asked. That sequence showed far more courtesy than the relentless skepticism Pelley reserved for conservatives.

He fought efforts to bring more balance to CBS, pushing back against those who wanted a broader range of voices. Whether that resistance came from loyalty to an ideological bent or simple career protection, the result was clear: too many of his pieces sounded like advocacy. Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton were not the damage; they were simply the people trying to clean up the mess Pelley helped make.