From CNN to FOX to MSNBC: How TV networks covered President Donald Trump’s July 16 prime-time address to the nation.
President Trump slams ABC and NBC for not making election-interfering speeches
President Trump asked the FCC to revoke the television licenses of ABC and NBC, which chose not to broadcast prime-time speeches.
President Donald Trump’s prime-time address to the nation on Thursday, July 16, was a test of how American television networks handle potentially controversial presidential speeches.
Ahead of his highly anticipated speech, President Trump said he would discuss the controversial issue of “free and fair elections.” The president has continued to press baseless claims that his 2020 election loss to former President Joe Biden was stolen, while also claiming, without evidence, that Democrats committed “rigging” to win ahead of November’s election.
After Trump’s speech plans were made public, broadcast and cable news executives had to make decisions about how to handle the coverage. Will they cover Trump’s remarks live, stream the speech online, or delay coverage to provide context and fact-checking?
ABC, CNN, and NBC chose to release the speech online. Fox went back and forth on live broadcasts. CBS News then played a special report featuring President Trump’s speech, in which he accused China of, among other things, “interference” in the 2020 election, at low volume on a background screen.
Here’s a breakdown of how each network treated his speech.
ABC has moved its coverage to other platforms
An ABC spokesperson told USA TODAY that ABC News Live and ABC News Radio will be broadcasting President Trump’s speech with anchor coverage. The network also expects to feature the speech on its regular newscasts, and its special reporting team is “well prepared to infiltrate network programming to provide updates and reports should there be significant developments.”
On television, ABC aired “Press Your Luck” on the East Coast and local news and “ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” on the West Coast.
In the past, ABC News has aired presidential speeches when the Trump administration requested time, including both inaugural addresses to Congress and the April 21 debate on war with Iran.
NBC brings President Trump’s speech to streaming platform
NBC announced that live coverage of the president’s speech will be available on its streaming platform, NBC News NOW. An NBC spokesperson also confirmed to USA TODAY that there were plans to air a special report on the network in response to his remarks.
NBC’s telecasts aired new episodes of “The Americas” on the East Coast, and replaced Trump’s speech with local news and “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llama” on the West Coast. At one point, President Trump’s speech was broadcast on NBC, but was quickly cut back to local news.
CNN covered President Trump’s speech as a “news event”
CNN announced plans to cover the speech live as a “news event” and make a live feed of President Trump’s speech available on CNN’s website and on CNN’s All Access streaming platform.
“CNN will cover the President’s speech as a news event, monitor news developments and provide analysis and commentary from CNN’s experts covering elections, intelligence and the FBI,” a spokesperson for the network told USA TODAY. “A live feed of the speeches, along with analysis and expert commentary, will be available on CNN.com and CNN’s All-Access streaming platform.”
President Trump’s speech began airing on CNN, then switched to “Sources with Caitlin Collins,” with a breaking news banner that read, “Trump addresses election after years of false claims.” She then disputed his claims with several experts on her show, after which the conversation took to her next show, CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.
CBS hosts special report
CBS News briefly aired the speech before going into a special report by anchor Tony Dokoupil. He discussed specific aspects with experts while President Trump was shown giving a speech in the background. The speech was streamed live primarily on CBS.com, CBS News 24/7, and the CBS News app.
Fox News primarily broadcast the speech live.
Fox News briefly suspended the speech and returned to broadcast live without banners or analysis.
MS now
MS Now published an expert-led discussion on “Briefing with Jen Psaki,” and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) also criticized President Trump’s speech during his speech. MS NOW posted updates on the speech on its website.
President Trump threatens to revoke ABC, NBC licenses
In his speech, President Trump specifically criticized ABC and NBC for not broadcasting his speech live in prime time, saying, without providing evidence, that the reason was “because they don’t like the subject matter” and “because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to expose it.”
He also made an unusual request to the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the television licenses of ABC and NBC, which chose not to broadcast prime-time speeches. “Such fraud should mean revocation of the license.” But this was not the first time the network chose not to broadcast a presidential speech on broadcast television. Similar steps were taken in 2014 in President Barack Obama’s Nov. 20 speech on immigration and President Biden’s Sept. 1, 2022 speech on the “battle for the soul of our nation.” In September 2025, President Trump also proposed that Chairman Brendan Carr, a close ally of President Trump, revoke the FCC’s broadcast license over negative coverage of him. Kerr put a lot of pressure on ABC after Jimmy Kimmel made comments about Charlie Kirk on his show.
USA TODAY streamed President Trump’s speech on YouTube and provided live updates and analysis.
