New York, New York - CBS News' 60 Minutes aired a segment on Sunday on El Salvador's notorious CECOT megaprison weeks after its scheduled broadcast was abruptly canceled.

"CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT piece as soon as it was ready. Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories," the outlet said in a statement.

Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made the decision to pull the segment – originally set to air on December 21 – in part because it did not include an on-the-record statement by a Trump administration official, NPR reported.

In a message to colleagues, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi wrote, "Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices."

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"It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one," she added.

The Trump administration last March deported 252 Venezuelan men from the US to El Salvador, claiming – without providing evidence – that they were dangerous "terrorists." They were locked up in CECOT despite credible prior reports of torture at the facility.

The men were released and returned to Venezuela on July 18.

Human rights organizations have said the Venezuelan nationals suffered arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, inhumane detention conditions, and sexual violence during their time in El Salvador.

The 60 Minutes piece released on Sunday includes interviews from formerly detained people describing the horrific abuse they experienced inside CECOT.

"There was blood everywhere, screams, people crying, people who couldn't take it and were urinating and vomiting on themselves," said interviewee Luis Muñoz Pinto, who said he did not enter the US illegally or have a criminal record before he was deported.

"When you get there, you already know you're in hell. You don't need anyone else to tell you."

The cancellation of the original 60 Minutes broadcast sparked mass public backlash.

Viewers in Canada did get to see the CECOT piece on the date it was originally scheduled. Comparisons showed the version aired on Sunday was largely unaltered, although it did add statements from Trump administration officials.

Alfonsi's introduction was also updated to reference the US' January 3 invasion of Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro.

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During the 2024 presidential election cycle, Donald Trump sued CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. The previous owners of Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle the case.

Weiss took the helm at CBS in October after her appointment by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison. Before that, she was an opinion writer at the New York Times who publicly quit in 2020 and went on to found The Free Press. She is known for her pro-Israel, anti-trans, and "anti-woke" stances.

Since Weiss' appointment, administration officials have appeared more often on CBS, with Trump himself sitting down for a 60 Minutes interview in November.

CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil interviewed Trump on Tuesday. According to the New York Times, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened to "sue your a** off" if the interview were not aired in full.