The latest 60 Minutes controversy adds to scrutiny of CBS News since the broadcaster was taken over earlier this year as part of a wider merger with Paramount.
It is now led by David Ellison, the son of tech billionaire and Trump ally Larry Ellison, whose relationship with the president has been closely watched as he pushes to build a media empire.
He is currently seeking to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, which owns television networks including CNN. Paramount on Monday said Larry Ellison would provide a personal guarantee for more than $40bn for that deal.
The Ellisons’ earlier takeover of Paramount was approved by the Trump administration this summer, after Paramount agreed to pay $16m to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 presidential rival Kamala Harris. Trump claimed the interview was deceptively edited to benefit Democrats.
To win approval of the deal, Mr Ellison agreed to install an independent ombudsman at CBS to review complaints of bias and committed to regulators that programming would reflect a diversity of view points.
Mr Ellison drew attention in October when he named Ms Weiss, a former New York Times opinion writer and founder of digital start-up The Free Press, editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Ms Weiss, who has criticised broadcast media for becoming too partisan and liberal, had previously said she aims to change editorial decision-making at CBS.
Democratic Senator Brian Schatz, who represents Hawaii, was among the lawmakers to weigh in on the controversy.
“What is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment,” he wrote on social media on Sunday. “If executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson.”