Now a former 60 Minutes correspondent for CBS, Pelley made the miscalculation that so many in this business have in recent years: He thought he was indispensable. His contract made him rich. Likes and reposts from his social media posts made him feel powerful. He felt he could challenge his bosses during staff meetings or even publicly.

We saw this play out in 2023 after Chris Licht was hired by CNN with a mission to move the network back to the center. As part of that effort, candidate Donald Trump was invited to participate in a town hall moderated by Kaitlan Collins. This did not sit well with CNN talent at all, even to the point that Anderson Cooper took to the air the night after the event in an attempt to embarrass the network president.

“I get it. It was disturbing,” Cooper said directly to viewers. “The man you were so disturbed to see last night, that man is the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president. You have every right to be outraged today, angry, and never watch this network again, but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”

That’s right. Cooper actually first called Trump’s appearance “disturbing” before telling viewers it was OK if they never watched again. He wasn’t reprimanded. Licht was fired not long after.

The same revolt happened at the network formerly known as MSNBC when it hired former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. Top-paid talent, including Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski, all went on the air to voice their disdain of having a pro-Trump voice on the network.

“The fact that Ms. McDaniel is on the payroll at NBC News, to me, that is inexplicable,” Maddow said on her 9 p.m. show. “And I hope they will reverse their decision.”

They did. McDaniel was gone 24 hours later.

Pelley chose a similar path after his new boss at 60 Minutes, Nick Bilton, invited him for a private dinner to discuss the direction of the news magazine. Pelley rejected that invitation, instead opting to wait for Bilton’s first staff meeting to attack him in front of colleagues.

According to multiple reports, Pelley screamed at Bilton, accusing him of “murdering 60 Minutes.” Pelley also attacked Bilton’s credentials in essentially hijacking the meeting. “What qualifies you to be in this position?” Pelley asked.

One day later, Pelley was fired.

“Yesterday’s performative display of hostility-enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show,” Bilton wrote in an exit letter to Pelley. “Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately. Enclosed is your formal termination letter.”

Good for Bilton. Because if he had allowed Pelley to stay after such a condescending, disrespectful tirade, the entire network would see him as a pushover. And it sets an unmistakable tone: If you, as an employee, have some kind of disagreement with the executive management, have that discussion privately. Work it out. Be an adult.

Pelley thought he was above all of that.

Pelley has led the charge in “murdering” 60 Minutes for years. Here’s a classic example of that regarding the cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.

“Late Thursday, we met President Biden at the White House,” Pelley said on 60 Minutes on Oct. 15, 2023. “It had been a rough week, and we could see it on him. Mr. Biden will be 81 next month. And he has said that when he’s tired, his lifelong stutter can creep back in. But he wedged us into his schedule to express his commitment to Israel after the massacre of more than 1,000 civilians eight days ago.”

Lots to unpack here: For starters, Biden had off days for nearly 40% of his presidency. His schedule oftentimes contained maybe one or two items before shutting down early in the afternoon. So when Pelley said Biden wedged him into his schedule on Oct. 12, it wasn’t exactly a packed itinerary.

A look at Biden’s schedule shows he received the daily briefing at 10:30 a.m. to start his day. He later made the short flight to Philadelphia for a speech in the afternoon before leaving for one of his homes in adjacent Delaware to start another long weekend before 5 p.m.

So why would he portray Biden as a hardworking president with so little time on his schedule?

Because he’s not a journalist, he’s an activist.

Another example: In 2025, Pelley interviewed Moms for Liberty, a nationwide group of concerned mothers who are staunchly against sexually explicit books being in schools of children as young as elementary school. Moms for Liberty’s goal is common sense: Let’s get our children back to the basics of reading, writing, science, and math, where the United States lags well behind other industrialized countries despite massive spending, and away from woke diversity, equity, and inclusion teachings.

But the Pelley we saw during his sycophantic interview with Biden suddenly morphed into a pious interrogator during his interview with Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice.

“They often dodged questions with talking points,” Pelley narrated before going back to the interview. 

Per the transcript:

Pelley: “You’re being evasive.”

Justice: “Twenty-one percent of…”

Pelley (interrupting): “What ideology…”

Justice (attempting to continue): “Hispanic students are reading on…”

Pelley (again interrupting): “You’re being…”

Justice: “…grade level.”

Pelley (interrupting a third time): “…evasive. What ideology are the children being indoctrinated into? What is your fear?”

Justice: “I think parents’ fears are realized. They’re looking at these books where sexual discussions are happening with their children at younger and younger ages.”

Pelley (narrating): “Tiffany Justice read from sexually explicit books written for older teens but found in a few lower schools. Most people wouldn’t want them in a lower school. But in a tactic of outrage politics, Moms for Liberty takes a kernel of truth and concludes these examples are not rare mistakes but a plot to sexualize children.”

That’s not Mike Wallace’s 60 Minutes. That’s MS Now dressed up as 60 Minutes. By narrating his response, Justice has no ability to respond. And Pelley’s conclusion isn’t a fact — it’s a highly subjective opinion.

But the real tell was Pelley’s commencement speech at Wake Forest University in 2025 after Trump won the presidency for a second time.

“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 declared dramatically as if he was auditioning for the next Aaron Sorkin political drama. “An insidious fear is reaching through our school, our businesses, our homes, and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak in America.”

The irony, of course, is that Pelley was able to say these words without any hindrance or censorship whatsoever. And how exactly is “an insidious fear” reaching into private thoughts?

It’s this kind of cheesy, theatrical performance by a 60 Minutes correspondent and former anchor of the CBS Evening News, a chair once occupied by an actual newsman in Walter Cronkite, that helped turn the longtime news magazine into just another program with an agenda.

IN FOCUS: THE MILITARY NEEDS MORE INNOVATIVE RISK TAKERS

Bari Weiss was hired to change the culture at CBS News. Pelley thought he could be arrogant and intransigent. He was wrong.

The next stop is a podcast from a kitchen.