‘You’re Being Evasive’: 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley Grills ‘Moms For Liberty’ on Use of ‘Grooming’ on Social Media

The Moms for Liberty had their chance in the spotlight on Sunday when two of their members were interviewed on 60 Minutes. And when questioned by CBS’ Scott Pelley, they repeatedly ignored him in favor of their own talking points.

Pelley interviewed the co-founders of the far-right activist group, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, who originally formed Moms for Liberty over Covid school restrictions. They soon pivoted to radical book bans that included content about racial diversity and sexual identity. Pelley confronted them on several points — but didn’t seem to get any actual answers.

During a line of questioning on their claim that children are being indoctrinated, Pelly stated in his voiceover, “They often dodged questions with talking points.” Here’s one exchange:

Descovich: We love teachers. My children have had the best teachers. I’ve had the greatest teachers that have influenced and impact me. But there are rogue teachers in America’s classrooms right now.

Pelley: Rogue teachers?

Descovich: Rogue teachers, correct.

Justice: Parents send their children to school to be educated, not indoctrinated into ideology.

Pelley: What ideology are they being indoctrinated into?

Descovich: [PAUSE] Let’s just say children in America cannot read.

And another:

Pelley: You’re being evasive.

Justice: 21% of Hispanic students–

Pelley: You’re being evasive. What ideology are the children being indoctrinated into? What is your fear?

Justice: I think parents’ fears are realized. They’re looking at these books where sexual discussions are happening with their children at younger and younger ages.

At that point, Pelley explained:

Tiffany Justice read from sexually explicit books written for older teens but found in a few lower schools. Most people wouldn’t want them in a lower school. But in a tactic of outrage politics, Moms for Liberty takes a kernel of truth and concludes these examples are not rare mistakes, but a plot to sexualize children.

Pelley also asked Justice and Descovich about their using the word “grooming” when referring to teachers and librarians:

Pelley (VO): We wanted to know about the messages on Moms’ X account, which adopts the extremists smear with, “If they don’t like being called groomers, they should stop trying to groom our kids.”

Pelley: What are you trying to say?

Descovich: Well, I’m going to say that if– We’d have to see the exact tweet. Tiffany manages our Twitter account.

Pelley (VO): So we read more exact tweets from their account. This targets a librarian. “You want to groom our children, and we’re supposed to give you love?” Again, Justice and Descovich went to their talking points.

Pelley: I’m just asking, what do you mean by that? What do you mean by grooming?

Justice: Parents want to partner with their children’s schools. But we do not co-parent with the government.

Watch the video above via CBS.