Lulu Garcia Navarro

We've included a fuller statement from CBS News at the end of the episode.

This is Scott Pelley's first sit-down interview since he was fired.

Thank you so much for coming in.

I know that this is a very difficult moment.

You were just fired from the news organization, which you were at the heart of for 37 years.

CBS News.

I want to actually start by just asking you how you're feeling in this moment before we start how you got here.

Let's talk about how we got to this moment.

A few days before your firing, several high profile 60 Minutes correspondents and leaders were fired.

Leading up to that, there'd been a lot of reporting about changes that were coming to 60 Minutes.

Was that the sort of change you were expecting?

Explain to me exactly how you felt.

CBS leadership says that they tried to get in touch with you to talk about all of those changes before Bilton's first day.

And you didn't speak to them.

Why not?

At that meeting, you spoke up very forcefully.

You asked him why he'd taken the job knowing, and this is a quote, that you will never be welcome here.

Why did you decide to have that first interaction with your new boss in public and not behind closed doors?

Why did you feel that you were the person that needed to get the answers to the questions that you had and everyone had at that meeting?

Why did you feel compelled to speak up?