Obama’s first post-election interviews to air on CBS on Sunday

Former President Obama will appear in interviews with CBS News hosts on Sunday in his first television appearances since news outlets projected President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. 

CBS News announced in a press release Wednesday that President Trump’s predecessor will be interviewed by Gayle King for “CBS Sunday Morning” and Scott Pelley will talk with the former president for “60 Minutes.” 

CBS added that the previews of the interviews, which will be conducted in Washington, D.C., will air Thursday and Friday. 

The television events mark Obama’s first on-air appearances since the Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were projected to take the White House. 

In the interviews, Obama is expected to discuss his memoir, “A Promised Land,” which is scheduled for a Nov. 17 release. The book is the first of two planned volumes from the former president as a reflection on his two terms as commander in chief. 

CBS noted in its release Wednesday that Obama was featured on “60 Minutes” with his wife, Michelle, in their first post-election television interview on a Sunday exactly 12 years prior.

Obama will also be featured in an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s show, “The Oprah Conversation,” during which the two discuss Obama’s journey to the White House and the issues that shaped his presidency. The episode will premiere on Apple TV+ the same day as the book’s release. 

In the final weeks before Election Day, Obama made several appearances on the campaign trail rallying support for Biden. In his rally addresses, the former president condemned Trump for his response to the coronavirus pandemic and his handling of the presidency as a whole. 

During an Oct. 31 rally in Flint, Mich., Obama delivered a scathing assessment of Trump’s tenure in the White House, criticizing the incumbent’s “reality show” style of politics and accusing him of focusing more on self-glorification than on the duties of his office.

“He hasn’t shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself or his friends or treating the presidency as anything more than a reality show to give him the attention that he craves,” Obama said. “But unfortunately, the rest of us have to live with the consequences.”

After The Associated Press and other major news outlets projected Biden as the winner of the presidential race Saturday, Obama released a statement on social media, writing that he believed Biden will “do the job with the best interests of every American at heart, whether or not he had their vote.” 

Trump has since refused to concede as his reelection campaign continues to wage a multistate legal battle with claims of voter fraud and irregularities in key battleground states. Several groups of experts and local courts have since disputed these claims. 

Biden on Tuesday called Trump’s unwillingness to concede an “embarrassment,” adding “I think it will not help the president’s legacy.”