--- title: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin on 60 Minutes: The Real Story description: He and Putin weren't on the same continent, and the ratings weren't actually that high canonical: https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-11T16:15:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:31:07.576Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's the Deal With That Putin '60 Minutes' Episode Trump Mentioned og:description: There's a couple problems with his story og:url: https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf829ea98165a29ea/69887089196cf41640038ee4/gettyimages-496590844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4902 og:image:height: 2757 og:image:alt: GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Milwaukee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Deal With That Putin '60 Minutes' Episode Trump Mentioned twitter:description: There's a couple problems with his story twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf829ea98165a29ea/69887089196cf41640038ee4/gettyimages-496590844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Deal With That Putin _60 Minutes_ Episode Trump Mentioned > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 11, 2015 4:15 PM UTC  Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ( Scott Olson--Getty Images) Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. ( Scott Olson--Getty Images)Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Nov 11, 2015 4:15 PM UTC At Tuesday’s debate, real estate mogul Donald Trump argued that he understands Russian leader Vladimir Putin because they both were featured on a September episode of the TV news show _60 Minutes_. “I got to know him very well because we were both on _60 Minutes_, we were stablemates,” he said, then he seemed to reference the show’s ratings. “We did well that night.” The remark drew a rebuke from former HP head Carly Fiorina, who noted that she had met Putin “not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting.” But both Trump and Fiorina’s remarks weren’t entirely on the mark. Trump and Putin did not meet in a “green room” for the show, which does not have the typical off-stage waiting area for guests that a talk show has. In fact, they weren’t even on the same continent. [Trump was interviewed ](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/495b2df3f735455c97eeca5e4049d91e/putin-trump-open-new-60-minutes-season-cbs)by CBS’s Scott Pelley in his New York City penthouse for the season premiere of the hour-long docu-series, while Charlie Rose travelled to Moscow to interview Vladimir Putin. Trump, who loves to talk about the ratings he got on “The Apprentice,” from previous debates and from last [week’s guest hosting](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/donald-trump-snl-ratings-215665) of “Saturday Night Live,” was partly correct about how the “60 Minutes” episode did. (edited) According to [The Wrap,](https://www.thewrap.com/ratings-trump-carries-60-minutes-to-big-numbers-quantico-premieres-solid/) 15 million people tuned into the season premiere of “60 Minutes,” but that was down 17% from last season’s premiere. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/"},"headline":"Here's the Deal With That Putin 60 Minutes Episode Trump Mentioned","datePublished":"2015-11-11T16:15:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:31:07.576Z","description":"He and Putin weren't on the same continent, and the ratings weren't actually that high","url":"https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/","keywords":["Republican debate","Vladimir Putin","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf829ea98165a29ea/69887089196cf41640038ee4/gettyimages-496590844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf829ea98165a29ea/69887089196cf41640038ee4/gettyimages-496590844.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Milwaukee","caption":"GOP Presidential Candidates Debate In Milwaukee","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-debate/","name":"Republican debate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4108198/donald-trump-60-minutes-putin/","name":"Here's the Deal With That Putin 60 Minutes Episode Trump Mentioned"}}]}] ```