CBS News defends holding Trump’s call for calm until it aired on ‘60 Minutes’

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” — which scored the first full sit-down with Donald Trump since he became president-elect — is facing questions over what it chose not to release from the interview before it aired.

During the interview, taped Friday afternoon at Trump Tower in New York City, “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Trump if he had a message for his supporters who have reportedly been harassing Latinos and Muslims since Trump’s election victory.

“I would say, ‘Don’t do it, that’s terrible,’ because I’m gonna bring this country together,” Trump said. “I am so saddened to hear that. And I say, ‘Stop it.’ If it — if it helps — I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: ‘Stop it.’”

There have been numerous incidents of vandalism and intimidation reported since Election Day, with racist graffiti appearing in schools and pro-Trump bullying directed at children and minorities.

Related: Acts of intimidation, violence and vandalism reported after Trump win

The network released snippets of its Trump conversation over the weekend, including the president-elect’s vow to be “restrained” on Twitter as commander in chief and his plan to keep parts of the Affordable Care Act. But Trump’s call for calm did not air until Sunday night, prompting some observers to question the ethics of sitting on comments that might dissuade potential violence.

In a statement to Yahoo News, CBS defended its decision.

“We released a quote on the issue that affects millions of Americans,” a “60 Minutes” spokesman said in a statement. “And that was his statement on Obamacare.”

But it’s not just Trump supporters who have been stirring things up. Since Trump’s stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton, anti-Trump protests have erupted around the country, some turning violent. Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested.

On Thursday night, Trump took to Twitter to criticize the protesters and accuse the media of inciting them.

“Very unfair!” he tweeted.

But on Friday morning, Trump tweeted that he appreciated the demonstrators’ passion for their country, which he said would eventually unite under his presidency.

Others in Trump’s inner circle, though, have accused the anti-Trump demonstrators of being “professional protesters.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump’s transition team, says he came face to face with an anti-Trump protest.

“I was in one a couple of days ago where they saw me in the car and they started banging, banging on my car,” Giuliani said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “I’m not sure these are even Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama supporters. I think these people are, you know, kind of like professional protesters. … They didn’t look to me like people who were, you know, carefully studying political science and were all upset about the ideology of the election.”

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said it’s up to President Obama and Clinton to quell the anti-Trump protests.

“It’s time really for President Obama and Secretary Clinton to say to these protesters, ‘This man is our president,’” Conway said.

Both Clinton and Obama gave speeches last week urging those who didn’t vote for Trump to accept the election results.

“We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,” Clinton said.