CBS News veteran Dan Rather has branded the transformation of his former network "in many ways a disaster," accusing its leadership of steering the storied news division toward becoming "a version of Fox News" under President Trump.

Rather, who turns 95 on Saturday, offered the assessment in an interview with Variety published Monday. He argued that Trump and corporate interests have been the principal beneficiaries of the upheaval at CBS News, and said the damage extends well beyond the employees who remain at the network. CBS News — the division that built its reputation with broadcasting figures such as Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite — has for decades stood among the defining institutions of American broadcast journalism, a history that helps explain why the dispute is being watched well beyond the network's own staff.

He attributed the turmoil to the growing influence of billionaires over American journalism and their ties to political power — a force whose effects have also been debated at other major outlets, including The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, both owned by wealthy individuals whose stewardship has fueled wider arguments over editorial independence.

Rather reserved particular criticism for Bari Weiss, the network's editor-in-chief, whom he accused of leading the newsroom in Fox News's direction since taking over.

"You judge a person by what they do, and what she's done is she's quickly turned CBS News in the direction of being a version of Fox News, perhaps a little more palatable," he said. "But I didn't know her beforehand, and I don't know her now. Frankly, we didn't hear much about her until she was rewarded with many millions of dollars for her company and then paid to come in and start destroying CBS News."

Weiss was installed in her role after the Skydance merger with Paramount, CBS's parent company, was completed in 2025. The merger was led by billionaire David Ellison, a Trump ally. Weiss previously founded The Free Press in 2022, an outlet Paramount acquired before her appointment.

According to Rather, the new ownership has enabled Trump to accomplish something he had long sought: damaging 60 Minutes, the Sunday investigative newsmagazine that has aired on CBS since 1968 and that the president has repeatedly attacked.

"The wreckage of CBS News is everywhere," Rather declared, warning that the changes were ongoing and would be very difficult to reverse How staffing and editorial output evolve under Weiss, and whether network leadership offers any further public response, are the open questions his warning leaves behind.

His remarks follow months of turmoil at 60 Minutes, one of American television's most-watched news programs, where long-serving correspondents Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi were among those removed in a sweeping management shake-up. Rather praised both for standing up to changes they believed would undermine the program's journalistic independence — particularly Pelley, who publicly confronted the new management.

Journalists, Rather said, need to "start challenging the power," even if speaking out carries professional consequences.

Pelley has previously accused CBS management of introducing political bias into the network's reporting. CBS News has denied the allegations of political interference, saying editorial decisions were made with the aim of improving both accuracy and fairness.

The standoff also follows Paramount's contentious $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit over 60 Minutes' 2024 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The settlement included no apology from Paramount. Rather previously described the deal as a surrender to pressure from the president, and his latest comments extend that critique to the network's broader direction.

Rather, the former anchor of the CBS Evening News who spent 24 years at the network, made clear that his criticism targets management rather than the many journalists still working there.