NBC, ABC, CNN won’t carry Trump speech on networks

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Several major news broadcasters will not carry President Trump’s speech on Thursday evening, spokespeople for these networks confirmed.

ABC News, NBC News and CNN will carry the president’s remarks on separate streaming platforms or editorial live updates.

Trump has teased “big news” ahead of this speech, in which he is expected to address his previous unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden.

A spokesperson for CNN said that the network will monitor Trump’s remarks as a “news event,” coupled with analysis and commentary from experts in elections, intelligence and the FBI.

“A live feed of the speech, alongside analysis and expert commentary, will be available on CNN-dot-com and available on CNN’s All Access streaming platform,” the spokesperson noted.

White House officials and Republican lawmakers were quick to criticize the networks’ decision.

“Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth. All they want to do is hide the facts from YOU,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote in a social media post ahead of Trump’s speech.

“Tune in @WhiteHouse at 9:00pm EDT, where we always get bigger ratings than any of the networks,” he continued.

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt (R) similarly slammed the networks’ decision not to take Trump’s speech live on their main channels.

“Some of the facts that will be revealed in President Trump’s speech tonight are truly shocking,” the Republican wrote in a social media post. “If the networks were truly serving the public interest they would air it and as a country we would collectively resolve to take action.”

The president in his address accused these media networks of being “a part” of this alleged voter fraud scheme.

“They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason,” Trump said. “They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left.”

The president then called for the networks’ broadcast licenses, which are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to be revoked on account of what he alleges is their complicity.

“Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multi-billion-dollar-in-value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting,” he said.

This story was updated at 10:36 p.m.

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