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CNN
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Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn from a previously scheduled interview with “60 Minutes,” the most-watched news magazine in the United States, CBS News said Tuesday evening.

CBS announced the change in Trump’s plans just hours before the network hosts a vice presidential debate between Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“For more than half a century, 60 Minutes has invited Democratic and Republican ticket holders to appear on our broadcast as Americans head to the polls,” the channel said in a statement. “This year, both the Harris and Trump campaigns agreed to sit down for 60 minutes.”

Trump had first agreed to the interview, followed by Harris, through campaign spokespeople, CBS said. Veteran CBS anchor and correspondent Scott Pelley lined up to interview Trump.

“After initially accepting 60 Minutes’ request for an interview with Scott Pelley, former President Trump’s campaign has decided not to participate,” CBS said.

The network was notified earlier Tuesday, throwing programming plans into disarray as the interviews with Harris and Trump were set to air next week on a special Monday night edition of “60 Minutes.”

With no additional debates scheduled between Trump and Harris, the traditional “60 Minutes” sitdown was one of the last times before the November election in which voters could see both candidates on a major television program.

CBS said the primetime special will still go ahead with an interview with Harris. Correspondent Bill Whitaker will follow Harris on the campaign trail and interview her later this week.

“Our original invitation to former President Donald Trump to be interviewed on 60 Minutes stands,” the network said.

In a statement, the Trump campaign denied agreeing to the interview.

“Fake news. 60 Minutes begged for an interview even after they were caught lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020. There were initial conversations, but nothing was ever planned or committed,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said.

“They insisted on cutting the interview short to do fact-checking,” he added.

Contrary to the Trump camp’s claim that no interview had been scheduled, two sources with knowledge of the matter said Pelley would sit down with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club on Thursday and Trump’s rally in Butler on Saturday , Pennsylvania would attend.

When asked by CNN if there was still a chance that Trump would participate in the interview, Cheung said: “Now that they lied about the interaction, they just fooled themselves.”

The Harris campaign immediately condemned Trump over the decision.

“Afraid of the debate phase. Bang for 60 minutes. And his campaign team – after the last three days of increasingly unhinged and volatile tirades at his rallies – is clearly afraid of pushing him beyond comfortable limits.” said Harris senior advisor David Plouffe.

In October 2020, Trump sat down with “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl and abruptly ended the interview when he apparently objected to Stahl’s questions.

The CBS news magazine is usually a sought-after destination for presidential candidates due to its large viewership.

CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed reporting.