U.S News Channels Cut Off Donald Trump Speech As President Stated Election Conspiracy Theories
Several U.S. news channels interrupted a speech from Donald Trump on Thursday, November 5. According to The Independent, the president made baseless claims about the election and declared the voting system fraudulent.
In his address on November 5, Trump announced a premature victory and accused the Democrats of leading a fraudulent effort to gain additional ballots that arrived late.
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” the president stated moments into his speech.
The president also claimed that poll watchers were unable to review ballot counts in Pennsylvania, but this has been allowed during the counting process.
Many networks, including CNN, MSNBC, NBC and ABC, interrupted the address, and others hosting streams of the event also cut off Trump. MSNBC host Brian Williams questioned the “reality” of Trump’s speech and emphasized the danger the president could cause with ongoing, misleading claims.
“Here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States but correcting the president of the United States. It was not rooted in reality, and at this point, where our country is, it’s dangerous,” Williams explained.
USA Today was broadcasting a live stream of Trump’s talk, and the network’s editor-in-chief, Nicole Carroll, outlined the broadcaster’s commitment to promote accuracy in a statement after the event was pulled.
“President Trump, without evidence, claimed the presidential election was corrupt and fraudulent. Our job is to spread truth – not unfounded conspiracy theories,” Carroll said.
Broadcasters have previously stopped the president’s coronavirus briefings prematurely in order to prevent any misleading claims from being promoted. Trump criticized his own advisers in a COVID-19 briefing in March, which led to several networks pulling the news conference from their channels.
Opposition candidate Joe Biden, Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and CNN reporter Daniel Dale, known for his rigorous fact-checking, have all criticized Trump for the message of his latest address.
According to the Associated Press, neither candidate has won the 270 electoral votes to become president. Biden has 264 and requires six more and Trump has 214 and needs 56 to remain in the White House.
Although the outcome for 2020 has not concluded, The Inquisitr recently reported on Donald Trump’s potential to run for president again in 2024 if he loses to Biden. His former adviser, Bryan Lanza, outlined the 74-year-old’s potential to run as a Republican candidate in four years time.
