President Donald Trump and CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil on January 13, 2026 (Image: Screengrab via CBS News / Bluesky / Justin Baragona)
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include additional commentary.
New "CBS Evening News" host Tony Dokoupil (the husband of MS NOW host Katy Tur) interviewed President Donald Trump during his second week on the job as the main anchor on the network's flagship primetime news program. But Dokoupil's friendly tone was roundly criticized by media professionals.
During one part of the interview highlighted by Democratic National Committee staffer Matt Rein, Trump "said the quiet part out loud," telling Dokoupil that had he not won the 2024 election, the CBS host "probably wouldn't have a job right now."
"Your boss is an amazing guy. Might be bust," Trump said of new Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison, who is the son of prominent Trump donor Larry Ellison. "I doubt it in his case, but you never know."
At the end of the segment, Dokoupil said: "Mr. President, thank you very much. For the record, I do think that I'd have this job even if the other guys won."
"Yeah, but at a lesser salary," Trump responded.
The camera then cut back to Dokoupil, who offered a light-hearted giggle before transitioning to a story about federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigning after being told to focus their investigation of the killing of U.S. citizen and mother Renee Good at the hands of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, rather than the agent. NOTUS reporter Justin Baragona posted a clip of that exchange to Bluesky, noting that an unnamed CBS News staffer responded with: "HAHAHAHAHA."
In a post to Facebook, MS NOW opinion editor Zeeshan Aleem called the moment "an astonishing, open reference to the regime-friendly take over of CBS news, with Trump openly flexing about the transformation the org into state media and demanding fealty from an already-deferential reporter on air."
"He wants to watch he dog sit when he tells him to sit. Dokoupil appears to stammer at the end of the clip, apologetic and nervous about doing his job," Aleem wrote. "A humiliating blow to American journalism."
"Be careful, CBS Tony 'Goebbels' Dokoupil's interview with Trump is not safe for work," quipped economist David Rothschild.
"G—— this is pathetic," wrote journalist Marisa Kabas.
"[T]he debasing of a news network by Bari Weiss and her wingnut oligarch daddies," progressive organizer Murshed Zaheed said of the segment.
Watch the segment below:
Tony Dokoupil: "Mr. President, thank you very much. For the record, I do think that I'd have this job even if the others guys won."Donald Trump: "Yeah, but at a lesser salary."[Dokoupil then giggles as they wrap up the segment.]A CBS News staffer merely reacted with this: "HAHAHAHAHA"
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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) Jan 13, 2026 at 7:08 PM
