ABC and NBC declined to air President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security on their main broadcast networks Thursday, prompting Trump to accuse them of censorship and threaten their broadcast licences. CNN also chose not to carry the speech live on its main channel.
Trump threatens broadcast licenses
Mid-speech, Trump accused NBC and ABC of colluding in a “plot” by skipping the broadcast, calling it a “rare move” and arguing “fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.” Legal experts note networks have broad First Amendment latitude over what they air, though broadcasters have historically carried presidential addresses as matters of public importance.
.@POTUS: “In a rare move, NBC and ABC Fake News have both said that they would not cover this speech… because of the fact that they don’t like the topic, because they know how corrupt our system is and they don’t want to reveal it. They and others in the media are part of the… pic.twitter.com/gLwanu8gaK
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 17, 2026
Democrats were split on the question. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged networks not to air the speech, arguing Trump was likely to repeat debunked election claims.
How each network handled it
- ABC streamed the address on ABC News Live and ABC News Radio, skipping its broadcast channel.
- NBC carried it on its free streaming service, NBC News NOW, also bypassing its main network.
- CNN monitored the speech for news rather than airing it live, offering a feed only through its website and paid streaming tier.
- CBS preempted regular programming to air it live, but anchor Tony Dokoupil opened with a pointed disclaimer that “much of what the president has said on this topic is false,” and the network cut away after about 15 minutes to fact-check his claims.
- Fox News carried the speech in full, with some local affiliates simulcasting the cable feed.
Streaming platforms like ABC News Live and NBC News NOW typically draw far smaller audiences than the networks’ broadcast signals, meaning most Americans who watched live likely did so on Fox.
A tense backdrop for the networks involved
The speech landed amid heightened scrutiny of nearly every network in play. ABC’s parent Disney is facing two open FCC inquiries, including one over whether “The View” broke equal-time rules by interviewing a Democratic Senate candidate; the FCC could begin moving to pull licenses from Disney’s eight ABC-owned stations as soon as next month.
Comcast-owned NBC has faced repeated attacks from Trump, who has nicknamed it “Concast” and previously walked out of an NBC interview; FCC Chair Brendan Carr is separately investigating the network’s diversity practices.
.@POTUS: Even when significant evidence of fraud has been detected, it has been buried and covered up. Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan.
The FBI agents working on the case… pic.twitter.com/OBLdCfTWii
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 17, 2026
At CBS, David Ellison’s Paramount takeover with billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison as his father has unsettled the newsroom and prompted departures from “60 Minutes,” amid allegations of editorial interference the network denies; Ellison is now awaiting FCC approval to acquire Warner Bros.
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Discovery, which would hand him CNN. Fox News, meanwhile, paid $787.5 million in 2023 to settle a defamation suit tied to its coverage of 2020 election fraud claims.
Carr himself said Wednesday the broadcast networks should air Trump’s remarks, telling NewsNation the public has “every right” to hear them over the public airwaves.