Trump demands ABC, NBC lose licenses after skipping election speech
When President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday night on election interference and foreign meddling, only some networks, including CBS and Fox News, interrupted regular programming to carry his remarks.
The president took notice, calling out ABC and NBC for declining to air the speech and once again labeling them “fake news.”
He went further, claiming the networks were complicit in what he described as a cover-up of election fraud.
“They and others in the media are part of a plot,” Trump said. “They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left.”
Broadcast licenses
He also argued the two networks should lose their federally issued broadcast licenses.
“You can’t have a great country without free and fair elections,” Trump said. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses. They use our public multi-billion-dollar-in-value airways for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty and reporting. They pay nothing for multibillion-dollar assets.”
It’s not the first time Trump has called for revoking broadcasters’ licenses.
Trump administration’s history with ABC
The Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump appointee Brendan Carr, has placed ABC’s eight broadcast licenses under early review over the network’s diversity initiatives.
Carr has also clashed with ABC’s “The View” over what some Republican lawmakers describe as an overtly partisan left-wing bias. He has argued that “The View” does not qualify for the “bona fide news show” exemption and should abide by the FCC’s equal time rule for interviewing and giving airtime to political candidates.
The Washington Post reported ABC and NBC are generally reluctant to give presidents airtime for overtly political speeches.
Both networks aired the president’s speech online on their streaming services.
Neither ABC nor NBC responded to The Post’s request for comment about declining to air the speech live.
CBS and FOX air presidential address
By contrast, CBS News did air the presidential address — but with a caveat. Anchor Tony Dokoupil told the audience that Trump’s speech “will be news and it’s our job to cover the news, and so we are.”
Fox News, whose programming Trump frequently appears on, also carried the president’s remarks live.
CNN did not carry the speech live. Anchor John King cited Trump’s history of making false claims about election integrity when explaining the network’s decision.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
