Cecilia Vega, formerly of 60 Minutes, has revealed that CBS News executives pressured her to inject “political bias” into segments, including a demand to include footage of protesters attacking ICE agents that, inconveniently, never existed. Vega made the remarks at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ annual conference in New Orleans, as first reported by Status.

According to Vega, as she was finishing a segment on deadly federal immigration operations in Minnesota - where ICE agents fatally shot two American citizens - she was told to add footage of protesters attacking ICE agents. “The footage did not exist,” Vega noted dryly. She also faced questioning over why she didn’t interview JD Vance for a piece on poverty in West Virginia that focused on Trump administration cuts to SNAP benefits, and was asked to report on comments from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey suggesting he wanted local police to fight federal agents - despite no evidence of such remarks.

“I’ve gone head-to-head with editors for 25 years,” Vega said. “But never in my career, until now, have I felt that those edits came from a place of misinformation or politics.” CBS News did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Vega was fired this spring, and she previously warned that the network’s flagship newsmagazine was in danger following the appointment of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief last October. Weiss, a Trump ally with no broadcast news background, has been accused of turning the show into a political piñata. A CBS spokesperson previously dismissed Vega’s claims as “not based in reality.” Weiss delayed a segment on deporting Venezuelans to a notorious El Salvador prison, prompting correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi to call the decision “political.” The shakeup also claimed veteran Scott Pelley, who reportedly accused Weiss of “murdering” the show before being fired.