Scott Pelley

And I see Barry Weiss is sitting in there and I think, this is terrific of her.

She's come to this meeting and now I'm going to be able to ask her these questions.

She's going to be able to explain what happened.

But it really didn't occur to you that

You could be fired after so many of your colleagues had been let go after you'd had this, you know, very contentious interaction with your new boss.

You know, some reporter I turned out to be.

I just didn't connect the dots.

I was not familiar with her name, so I did some research and discovered those things that you just outlined.

What concerned me was that she had zero television experience and had never...

managed a large global operation like CBS News.

Those were red flags to me, but I thought, you know, David Ellison thinks she's the right person for the job.

We are absolutely going to welcome her, listen to her, and give her the benefit of the doubt.

I mean, I'm surprised that you hadn't heard of her.

She's a lightning rod in journalism.

You know,

She just hadn't crossed my radar.

And if I hadn't heard of Barry Weiss at that point in time, that probably tells you more about me than it does her.

What was the feeling about that particular opening salvo to the team?

Uh-oh.

She, I am told, said something to the effect of, why do you think the country thinks you're biased?