CBS News Leaders Unaware of Migrant's 'Gay' Asylum Claim Before '60 Minutes' Segment
Executives reportedly 'went ballistic' upon learning producers omitted the detail from a story about a deported migrant.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss and "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton were reportedly not briefed on information that a deported migrant, Moussa Diawara, had claimed he was gay on immigration documents in order to seek asylum. The omission of this detail from a segment that aired on the newsmagazine program last Sunday has caused internal consternation, according to sources.
Weiss and Bilton "went ballistic" when they learned from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post on X that "60 Minutes" producers may have disregarded information indicating Diawara had claimed to be gay on his immigration forms. The segment reported that a U.S. judge ruled in 2012 that Diawara could not be deported to Mali, a Muslim-majority nation, because he had converted to Christianity eight months prior.
A source familiar with the matter indicated that "60 Minutes" producer Andy Court allegedly made an agreement with Diawara's lawyer not to mention the gay claim, without informing Bilton or other senior staff. The program's new contributor, Gianna Toboni, anchored the segment, which was produced by Court.
Following the controversy, Bilton reportedly convened a closed-door meeting with Toboni and Court. Sources suggest that CBS is considering disciplinary action against Court, a 28-year veteran of the network.
According to a DHS email obtained by The Post, on October 6, more than two weeks before the segment aired, DHS informed several CBS News employees involved in the production that Diawara, "who is married to a woman he shares two children with, oddly claimed he would be persecuted for homosexuality if returned home to Mali."
A network source stated that DHS did not "explicitly state he was committing fraud in the email," and added that the claim was omitted "out of consideration for his safety."
Speculation about why the segment was not altered or dropped includes pressure on Bilton to deliver content and the potential cost of reshooting the segment, which featured an interview with Diawara in an undisclosed African country. However, a network source denied that the show lacked other stories in production.
On his asylum application, Diawara stated, "Although I was born as a boy, but things appeared differently for me as I was already having female behaviors and feelings. I was more comfortable being intimate with boys rather than with girls."
Despite the controversy, representatives for Court, Bilton, and Weiss declined to comment. CBS News also declined to comment.
Ben Bogardus, Professor and Chair of the Journalism Department at Quinnipiac University, described the situation as a "self-inflicted wound for journalists at a time when people think journalists are pushing an agenda." He added, "I would have erred on the side of including the information. To me, this is a big part of the story."
The DHS General Counsel, James Percival, publicly revealed his findings on X, stating he discovered Diawara's claim of being gay as a reason for fearing return to Mali, suggesting it pointed to immigration fraud. A network source countered that the "60 Minutes" story "struck a nerve with Percival and the DHS by laying out the facts about people being deported to third countries and ending up in places US immigration judges have ruled off limits."