Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt is accusing CBS of shady behavior after its fact-checking of Mayor Karen Bass.
CBS News shocked Republicans by actually engaging in journalism to fact-check Bass over her Palisades fire claims during a debate with Pratt. Bass alleged that the winds “reached close to 100 miles an hour and the planes were unable to fly,” while Pratt argued that they “never reached higher than 40 mph.”
Watch:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt kicked off the city’s mayoral debate in a heated exchange on Wednesday after Pratt called Bass “an incredible liar,” and claimed she misguided Angelenos about the facts of the Palisades Fire when it broke out last… pic.twitter.com/shPJZKC28C
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 8, 2026
But it turns out that despite Bass’s confidence, Pratt was correct.
“Weather modeling reviewed for my reporting shows winds in the Palisades during those first several hours of the fire were, in fact under 40 miles per hour. Planes could and did fly. Stronger winds intensified later in the evening. And that distinction matters because the earliest hours of a wildfire are often the most critical for containment,” said Jonathan Vigliotti, who “has been closely reporting on and investigating the blaze for over a year.”
While this could be seen as a rare win for the media, it didn’t take long for the candidate to come out and accuse them of receiving “the call” and turning his interview into a hit piece.
Watch:
CBS got the call after fact-checking Karen Bass, so they tried to turn a 1 hour interview with me into a 5 minute hit piece. They need to air the full, unedited interview. pic.twitter.com/ff6UsWZLuA
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) May 9, 2026
“After CBS embarrassed Karen Bass by fact-checking her debate lies about the Palisades fire, they clearly got the call. CBS filmed with me on my burnt-out lot for over an hour, talking about crime, housing, affordability, things that voters care about, and they turned it over to Karen Bass’s PR team to edit it into a comical five-minute hit piece,” he claimed. “They can’t beat my ideas, they can’t beat me in the debates, so they have to turn my campaign into a sideshow. People are done with these skeezy political tricks, and I’m done with CBS. They should release the full, unedited interview. The voters deserve to hear from their next mayor.”
Social media users reacted to Pratt’s claims:
@CBS is intentionally committing election interference AGAIN by doing shady influence campaigns @CISAgov
— Sarah Adams (@sarahadams) May 9, 2026
It’s crazy how you have to not only compete with your opponents but also their corrupt media machine.
— Marc Alan Chronister, MA (@LogicProper) May 9, 2026
@CBS Where is the full 1 hour interview?? Why not show what the candidate actually said? Did it make too much sense?
— Amy (@_SFTahoe) May 9, 2026
Always record interviews as well. Only protection you have!
— KAG3-CO (@Kag3C) May 9, 2026
They’re infamously known for editing interviews aren’t you @CBS
Don’t waste your time with them.— Rebeka Martinez (@BekaMartinez) May 9, 2026
