At the time, Alfonsi emailed her colleagues to confirm the story’s pulling, reportedly saying she and her producer, Oriana Zill de Granados, had requested a meeting with Weiss to discuss the reason for the story’s spike. However, the CBS News editor in chief did not grant them that opportunity.
Alfonsi added that the story had been screened five times and cleared by the network’s attorneys and standards and practices division. She called the story “factually correct” and claimed the reason it was pulled was not an editorial decision but a “political one.”
The now former 60 Minutes correspondent added that they had “requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department,” but received no response.
Her story eventually made it to air weeks later, in almost its original form, except for an updated intro.
Alfonsi, who had been with CBS News for nearly 20 years, with more than half of that time at 60 Minutes, was the first official correspondent to be let go from the program. However, Alfonsi is the second to depart in as many weeks.
Anderson Cooper signed off from the newsmagazine on Sunday, May 17, using the Overtime portion of 60 Minutes to reflect on his time at CBS and vouch for the long-running program, saying he hopes it “remains 60 Minutes.”
