Inside CECOT

|280x280px The Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) is a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Its original purpose was to house individuals accused or convicted of gang membership amid a large-scale crackdown on gangs by the administration of Nayib Bukele that began in 2022. Under the second Trump administration, the prison has held some individuals deported from the United States under a $6 million deal with the Salvadoran government. 252 Venezuelan migrants were sent to the prison in March 2025 despite a federal court temporarily blocking the order, determining that the administration did not have grounds to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The identities of the migrants were not disclosed by the Trump administration prior to their deportation; no proof of criminal wrongdoing was provided by US authorities, nor was evidence that the detainees were members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang whose alleged "invasion" was used to justify the invocation of wartime powers by the Trump administration. A joint report published in November 2025 by Human Rights Watch and Cristosal showed evidence of "systematic torture and abuse" by prison officials. In July, CBS declined to renew The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—widely regarded as critical of Trump's administration—shortly after host Stephen Colbert criticized the settlement on-air (with the network claiming this was for budgetary reasons), and "explicitly promised the Federal Communications Commission" (FCC) that they would work to diversify the viewpoints they broadcast moving forward. In October 2025, after the acquisition had taken place, Paramount Skydance acquired Bari Weiss's The Free Press, enlisting Weiss to be editor-in-chief of CBS News. The decision was criticized by some within the network, given that Weiss's background was primarily in opinion and commentary, having no experience working in broadcast journalism. Upon her recruitment at CBS, she was "given a mandate to reshape the network's editorial coverage toward a more centrist viewpoint"; Weiss does not answer to CBS News president and executive editor Tom Cibrowski, but rather reports directly to David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance. On December 12, 2025, at the Walter Cronkite Award presentation, former CBS Evening News anchor and long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said that the program had yet to experience "corporate interference of any kind" since the Paramount Skydance takeover, explaining that "it's early yet, but what I can tell you is we are doing the same kinds of stories with the same kind of rigor". == Synopsis ==

Just under 14 minutes long, the segment first shows men in chains being "paraded in front of cameras, pushed onto buses, and delivered to CECOT". Detainees are expected to sleep in bunks stacked four high without pillows or blankets, and lights are kept on 24 hours a day. Detainees do not have access to clean water. A former detainee told Alfonsi that those who fail to kneel for 24 hours are sent to "the island", a small cell without light or ventilation, and are beaten every half hour. Alfonsi highlighted the inconsistency of a 2023 report by the State Department which "cited torture and life-threatening prison conditions" and President Trump's seeming admiration for the facility's operations and the broader policies of the El Salvadoran government. She interviewed the director of the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as Juan Pappier, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch; Alfonsi noted that 60 Minutes independently corroborated the conclusion of Human Rights Watch that CECOT was carrying out "systematic torture" on detainees, and that nearly half the men in CECOT do not have a criminal history. Only eight men had reportedly been "sentenced for violent or potentially violent crimes" according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data. == Broadcast postponement ==

On the afternoon of December 21, 2025, prior to the airing of the episode, CBS News announced the CECOT segment had been pulled from the episode, and would air at a later date, without disclosing a reason. Multiple sources and commentators noted that this action was almost unprecedented, with stories almost never being pulled after such a vigorous screening process as typically occurs at 60 Minutes. In a Truth Social post, Trump was critical of the Ellison family (owners of Paramount Skydance) over his perception that 60 Minutes had unjustly portrayed him in a negative light. In the post, Trump stated,For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called 'takeover', than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I'd hate to see my enemies! Aftermath and internal deliberation In a meeting the following morning, Weiss said that the report was pulled because it "was not ready", and that the piece did not "advance the ball" beyond what had been reported by other outlets. At the meeting, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley again brought up the fact that Weiss had not turned up to any of the five internal screenings of the segment during the final stages of editing. Pundits have noted that her intervention came only after the piece had been finalized and promoted on social media. Speaking to sources within CBS News, the New York Times pieced together a more detailed timeline of the story's progress. Alfonsi had requested an interview with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem roughly a month before the feature was to be broadcast, but received no response; following additional requests for comment made to their office, DHS referred all questions to the Salvadoran government. Weiss had reportedly questioned the use of the word "migrants" to describe the Venezuelan deportees, concentrating on the fact that they were present in the country illegally. In an email sent to staff on December 22, Weiss challenged the insinuations of several reported figures and quotations. Weiss questioned if there wasn't "much more to be asked" of the administration on account of the severity of the charges presented; On December 24, Weiss, alongside senior leadership at CBS, sent a memorandum to staff defending her decision to pull the story and rejecting accusations that it was politically motivated. The memorandum was signed by Weiss, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski, and editors Charles Forelle and Adam Rubenstein. Leak by Canadian broadcaster On December 22, 2025, it was discovered that Canadian broadcaster Global had placed the original cut of the December 21 episode—which still contained the CECOT segment—on its video on demand service, instead of the version that actually aired. Amid efforts by Paramount Skydance to issue DMCA takedown requests to stifle its dissemination, progressive personalities quickly began spreading the episode online, resulting in video of the segment being widely shared on social media, archival platforms such as the Internet Archive and Distributed Denial of Secrets, and via torrents. According to a statement sent by CBS News to The Globe and Mail, the Canadian network had been sent the original cut the preceding Friday; after being informed on Saturday that the episode would change, Global simulcasted the revised episode on its broadcast stations on Sunday night, but then "mistakenly published" the original version online the following day. Global quickly removed the episode from its online platform. On December 24, 2025, Global parent company Corus Entertainment confirmed that an episode that "was not intended to be published" was "briefly made available on the Global TV App on Monday and promptly removed when brought to our attention. We do not produce and make no editorial decisions whatsoever regarding this show." Eventual broadcast On January 18, 2026, CBS announced that the "Inside CECOT" segment would air during that night's episode of 60 Minutes. The body of the segment was unchanged, but Alfonsi's introduction and closing was updated to include off-camera statements provided by White House and Department of Homeland Security officials, and references to the United States' subsequent intervention in Venezuela and capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores that had occurred earlier in the month. It was noted that CBS had aired the episode against an NFL divisional playoff game on NBC that was anticipated to have a significant audience, leading to suggestions that this was done so intentionally to reduce its profile. == Reactions and commentary ==

Weiss's decision attracted widespread condemnation, including by American legislators and journalists. Weiss's actions have conversely been defended by conservative commentators both within and outside the Trump administration. Both pundits and sources of note have questioned whether, or asserted that Weiss's actions represent an effort by CBS to quiet negative commentary on the administration to guarantee a favorable outcome in Paramount Skydance's efforts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, considering the extent to which that may represent an abandonment of CBS News' commitment to journalistic integrity. CBS staff Many employees at CBS were quick to lend their support to Alfonsi. At a meeting with 60 Minutes staff the day after the segment was set to air, Scott Pelley told Alfonsi that he and other staff members were "incredibly proud" of her. He went on to state that "[y]ou are doing exactly what you’re supposed to do — what this broadcast is about. And I think you’re going to find all of us standing and cheering around you." The Independent reported that Weiss "could soon be facing a 'revolt, as a result of her choice to pull the story. Answering a request for comment by the platform, one reporter stated that Weiss had "likely crossed the Rubicon", another staffer was quoted as saying "holy fucking dumpster fire". Senator Ed Markey wrote that the postponement was a "sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism," and that "this is what government censorship looks like." Non-governmental organizations and observers Human Rights Watch executive director Philippe Bolopion said he was troubled by Alfonsi's allegations about Weiss's decision, "especially in light of pressures on press freedom in the US." He asserted that "[t]he evidence is clear regardless of what airs... the Trump administration disappeared these Venezuelan men to a mega prison... where they were systematically tortured." A representative of Human Rights Watch was interviewed by Alfonsi in the postponed segment. Further, he questioned the extent to which clearance by CBS Standards and Practices was actually meaningful, pointing to the authorization of a 2021 segment by Alfonsi on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that was considered by multiple groups across the political spectrum to have been misleading. He argued that the notion repeatedly advanced by 60 Minutes that press freedom was under attack rendered the accusation trite and inconsequential, claiming that its staff held an "aversion to being told what to do by their superiors". He concluded that the controversy was "nothing more than a workplace dispute involving oversensitive and self-important activists". He went on to argue that "conservatives would never accept a left-wing government using regulatory favoritism to pressure conservative media into softening their coverage of a Democratic administration." In The New Republic, Parker Molloy compared the current state of 60 Minutes unfavorably to its state two decades prior, when it broke the story of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib at the hands of the US military. Former CNN and ABC News correspondent and UMD journalism professor Mark Feldstein said that it was "virtually unprecedented" for a vetted story to be cancelled by an executive so close to air-time. He added that "CBS's proud legacy of journalistic integrity, going back to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, is sadly tarnished in ways that may never be repaired". == See also ==