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Is Lesley Stahl anti-Trump? POTUS slams '60 Minutes' host for not wearing mask, Internet says 'beyond laughable'

'That's weird, because we all KNOW how much you encourage the wearing of masks in the White House,' a user responded sarcastically

President Donald Trump slammed '60 Minutes' host Lesley Stahl for not wearing a mask at the White House after his interview with her. The POTUS also recorded a maskless Stahl in a video and threatened to broadcast it before the show was aired.

CNN reported on Tuesday, October 20, that Trump abruptly left his interview with Stahl after 45 minutes, telling the network that he believed he had given them enough content to run and didn't returned for a planned walk-and-talk with Vice President Mike Pence. Instead, he went out and tweeted a video of Stahl at the White House, pointing out that she wasn't wearing a mask. He then tweeted that he might release a video of their whole encounter before Sunday's episode is ready.  

Trump tweeted a video with Stahl where she can be seen wearing no mask and wrote, "Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come."

"I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about," he tweeted. In another tweet, Trump wrote, "Everyone should compare this terrible Electoral Intrusion with the recent interviews of Sleepy Joe Biden!"

“This is moments after she criticized me for not wearing a mask while working at my desk,” tweeted assistant White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Rules for thee but not for me, Lesley?”

As soon as the tweets were posted, people started reacting to it with one Internet user saying, "Is Lesley Stahl the president of the USA? No, she isn't. I don't care what she does. But I do care what example the president of the USA sets. And on every single level, Donald Trump sets an atrocious example! He is literally doing RALLIES in the middle of a PANDEMIC!"

Another slammed the Trump family and wrote, "That's weird, because we all KNOW how much you encourage the wearing of masks in the White House, so why wouldn't Lesley Stahl? Right Melania? Right Chris Christie? Right Kayleigh McEnany? Right everyone who's been INFECTED in the White House???" A user reminded Trump, "Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes is not running for President."

Another user slammed Trump by calling it, "beyond laughable", "With each new day, this President gives new meaning to "National Embarrassment." (Approaching an embarrassment to the species, if not there already.) Beyond laughable." Some made fun and replied to Trump's tweet saying, "Let me guess — the interview did not go your way?" Another wrote, "Lol - did you take this video???"

While some demanded the "mask nonsense" to stop and wrote, "Can we just stop with the mask nonsense? Everyone should have the right to make up their own mind. 99% of us are wearing the wrong masks incorrectly. If you know what you're doing and follow the protocols they can be useful to the wearer. Most people would be safer without one."

This isn't the first time that Stahl became a part of a controversy with Trump. Earlier in 2018, during a talk at the Deadline Club of New York’s annual journalism awards at the Harvard Club in Manhattan, Stahl revealed that she and her boss met Trump at his office in Trump Tower in Manhattan after the 2016 election for a  recorded sit-down interview for '60 Minutes'.

She later recalled the incident, “At one point, he started to attack the press. There were no cameras in there. I said, ‘You know, this is getting tired. Why are you doing it over and over? It’s boring and it’s time to end that. You know, you’ve won ... why do you keep hammering at this?’” Stahl recalled. “And he said: ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.’”

The 78-year-old Stahl recently recovered from Covid-19 infection. She has also interviewed Trump when he won the election to the Oval office and again during his presidency, both times for '60 Minutes'. She also filmed with Trump at the White House in October 2018. Born in a Jewish family in 1941, Stahl is the face of '60 Minutes' since 1991. She has interviewed several previous Presidents of the United States of America including Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.

CBS News and Stahl have not retaliated to Trump's move but CNN reported it first. '60 Minutes' plans to broadcast the interview on Sunday, October 25, in a special that will also feature Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.