Washington DC - White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly threatened CBS News with a massive lawsuit if it were to release an edited version of last week's interview with President Donald Trump.

"He said, 'Make sure you guys don't cut the tape; make sure the interview is out in full,'" Leavitt is heard saying in a recording acquired by the New York Times.

Leavitt's comments were made to CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil in Michigan, minutes after Trump had wrapped up a 13-minute interview with the network released to the public last week.

"Yeah, we're doing it, yeah," Dokoupil said in the recording, responding to Trump's request.

"He said, 'If it's not out in full, we'll sue your a** off,'" Leavitt replied, threatening yet another major lawsuit against the same company that paid out $16 million to Trump over an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign.

In a statement on Saturday, CBS News said they had made the decision to air the interview "unedited and in its entirety" long before Leavitt made the threat.

When approached by the NYT, Leavitt didn't back away from the allegation, simply saying that "the American people deserve to watch President Trump's full interviews, unedited, no cuts."

CBS News has faced widespread criticism over recent months due to its rapid slant to the right under its new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has openly spoken about pursuing a "de-Baathification of CBS," a source told the New Yorker.

Trump used the interview last week to defend US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to justify the fatal shooting of mother-of-three Renee Nicole Good by one of its officers.