Since its creation nearly 60 years ago, CBS’ “60 Minutes” has had only three executive producers. Now, one of them is leaving the award-winning show.

The top producer of the long-running Sunday news program, Bill Owens, revealed in an internal memo obtained by The New York Times that he’s stepping down. The memo cited the loss of the ability to “make independent decisions” as the reason for his departure.

The longtime head of CBS' 60 Minutes resigned Tuesday, as the network's parent company contemplates a settlement with President Trump over his lawsuit focusing on an interview the show did with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last fall.

In an emotionally charged meeting Tuesday afternoon, and again in a note to staff released publicly shortly after, the show's executive producer, Bill Owens said he was departing after 37 years with CBS News following months of heavy-handed treatment of the show by corporate leaders.

Top "60 Minutes" producer Bill Owens abruptly resigned from the program on Tuesday, saying he no longer had sufficient independence to run the program how he wanted.

A 60 Minutes segment on Germany's approach to policing online speech has ignited fierce debate on both sides of the Atlantic after it aired in the U.S. on Sunday. Critics have called the country's laws "Orwellian," while defenders insist they are necessary to prevent hate-fueled violence.

The weekend programming over at CBS was unusually focused on speech norms and censorship in Germany. First, Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan casually asserted that free speech is what empowered the Nazis to take over the government and implement the Holocaust; then, 60 Minutes conducted an interview with present-day German authorities in which they detailed their efforts to suppress not just Nazi speech but also misinformation, gossip, and insults toward politicians.

JD Vance spoke over the weekend at the Munich security conference on behalf of the United States -- the primary topic was Ukraine, for obvious reasons -- but instead of discussing the immediate geopolitical matter, he took his time at the rostrum to deliver a harsh message to the European grandees gathered there about the enemy “within.” And he wasn’t subtle in identifying that threat as the overreaction of Europeans to dissident populist parties:

Dozens of police teams across Germany raided homes before dawn in a coordinated crackdown on a recent Tuesday. The state police weren't looking for drugs or guns, they were looking for people suspected of posting hate speech online. 

A guest on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” attempted to claim on Sunday’s broadcast that despite reports of pre-dawn raids and the confiscation of electronics, German citizens really do enjoy free speech — until they say something that law enforcement interprets as “hate speech.”

Dr. Matthäus Fink sat down with host Sharyn Alfonsi to discuss the topic, and he explained how the recent raids had played out.

“What’s the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody’s door and they say, ‘Hey, we believe you wrote this on the internet’?” Alfonsi asked.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed Sunday with CBS host Margaret Brennan over Vice President J.D. Vance’s Friday speech at the Munich Security Conference.