CBS News fired longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday after he clashed over the future of the program under Bari Weiss’s leadership. At a staff meeting on Monday, Pelley accused Weiss of “murdering 60 Minutes” after the firing of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, and executive producer Tanya Simon last week. He was also critical of Weiss hiring Nick Bilton to be the show’s new executive producer.

Pelley met with Weiss, Bilton, and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski on Tuesday. In a note Pelley received from Bilton Tuesday night he wrote, “Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path. Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you.”

In a phone interview with The New York Times, Pelley said, “I have been in combat in Afghanistan. I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast.”

Bilton wrote to 60 Minutes staffers about Pelley’s firing Tuesday evening. He wrote, “I know how much Scott meant to many of you, and I don’t say this lightly. I made repeated attempts to have direct conversations with him over the weekend, and this afternoon I tried to find common ground. That was not the path Scott chose.”

📷: Getty/CBS Photo Archive