Washington DC - President Donald Trump on Thursday called on several TV networks to lose their broadcast licenses for refusing to broadcast his election conspiracy speech to the nation.
On Thursday night, as Trump delivered his speech pushing unsupported claims of voter fraud and Chinese meddling in US elections, CNN, ABC, and NBC opted out of airing it live.
During his speech, Trump called out NBC and ABC specifically, claiming, without evidence, that they were complicit in some kind of "fraud."
"In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech. They knew what it was about," Trump said. "Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses."
"They and others in the media are part of a plot," he continued. "They want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. They want to keep it going. They want to protect the radical left."
ABC and NBC news did not provide reasons for not airing the speech, but CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins said on air they would not be showing it live "given the president has a well-documented history of saying blatantly false things about elections."
It's worth noting that TV networks are not legally required to air presidential remarks in primetime.
Other outlets were split in their coverage. CBS aired the speech but provided rigorous fact-checking and context before and after.
Fox News, the president's favorite outlet, aired the speech in full, but several anchors provided disclaimers, likely because the network was forced to pay a massive legal settlement for pushing his conspiracies in the past.