"60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley took a not-so-subtle shot at President Donald Trump over what Pelley suggested was his baseless lawsuit against CBS News in a fiery commencement address at Wake Forest University.
"Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power," Pelley told Wake Forest graduates Monday. "First, make the truth seekers live in fear, sue the journalists and their companies for nothing. Then, send masked agents to abduct a college student who wrote an editorial in her college paper defending Palestinian rights and send her to a prison in Louisiana charged with nothing. Then move to destroy the law firms that stand up for the rights of others."
"With that done, power can rewrite history with grotesque false narratives. They can make criminals heroes and heroes criminals. Power can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality. Diversity is now described as illegal. Equity is to be shunned. Inclusion is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. There's nothing new in this."
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Earlier in the speech, he offered a dire warning to the graduates while urging them that their time to lead in the world is now.
"In this moment, this moment, this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack," Pelley said. "And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts, the fear to speak in America. If our government is, in Lincoln's phrase, 'Of the people, by the people, for the people,' then why are we afraid to speak?"
White House communications director Steven Cheung ripped Pelley for not coming out more openly about Trump, since Pelley never mentioned his name.
"If Scott Pelley has something to say, he should be more clear. Otherwise, he's just another coward hiding behind riddles, like a clown," Cheung told Fox News Digital.
CBS News didn't respond to a request for comment.
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Pelley's comments come as lawyers for Trump and CBS News' parent company Paramount Global enter mediation in hopes of resolving Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against the network over election interference allegations.
CBS News has faced turmoil in recent months over the lawsuit.
Overlapping with Pelley's address at Wake Forest University was the abrupt resignation of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon on Monday, who cited tensions within the company.
"Leading this extraordinary organization has been the honor of a lifetime because I got to work alongside all of you," McMahon wrote. "At the same time, the past few months have been challenging. It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It's time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership."
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McMahon's resignation came weeks after the abrupt exit of "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, who claimed he could no longer maintain editorial independence. There had been reports that Shari Redstone, Paramount's controlling shareholder, wanted to "keep tabs" on upcoming "60 Minutes" segments involving Trump and urged CBS execs to delay any sensitive reporting on Trump until after the merger deal closed with Skydance Media, which seeks FCC approval.
Last month, Pelley called out Paramount on-air over Owens' exit, linking the corporate pressure on "60 Minutes" to Trump's lawsuit and the merger plans.
"No one here is happy about it, but in resigning, Bill proved one thing. He was the right person to lead '60 Minutes' all along," Pelley told viewers.
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The CBS lawsuit stems from the editing of an exchange then-Vice President Kamala Harris had with "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker, who asked her why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn't "listening" to the Biden administration.
Harris was widely mocked for the "word salad" answer that aired in a preview clip of the interview on "Face the Nation." However, when the same question aired during the primetime special, Harris had a different, more concise response. Critics at the time accused CBS News of editing Harris' "word salad" answer to shield her from further backlash leading up to Election Day.
The released raw transcript and footage showed that both sets of Harris' comments came from the same response, but CBS News had aired only the first half of her response in the "Face the Nation" preview clip and aired the second half during the primetime special.
