Several of America’s biggest networks decided Thursday night wasn’t worth clearing their schedules for a presidential address. Ironically, Trump spent part of the speech arguing that media decisions like those should be treated as criminal.
He’d taken the East Room podium to talk about election security, but he opened by naming names. “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,” he said, then supplied his own explanation. “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.”
From there he moved from accusation to demand. “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses,” he said. “They use our public, multi-billion-dollar in value airwaves for absolutely no money. They pay nothing. All we want is honesty in our elections and honesty in reporting.”
🚨 NOW: President Trump demands the FCC broadcast licenses be REVOKED from the networks like ABC and NBC refusing to air his speech tonight
“Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses!” 🔥
“They use our public multi-billion dollar in value airways for absolutely… pic.twitter.com/0frNGXfoJa
— Q (@QTruth01) July 17, 2026
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The groundwork had been laid hours earlier by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who posted on X: “Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth,” directing viewers to official White House channels as an alternative.
Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth. All they want to do is hide the facts from YOU.
Tune in @WhiteHouse at 9:00pm EDT, where we always get bigger ratings than any of the networks. https://t.co/B772cVDXDZ
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) July 16, 2026
What actually happened on air didn’t quite match the picture Trump painted.
ABC pushed the address to ABC News Live and ABC News Radio, keeping it off its main broadcast signal.
NBC did something similar, streaming it on NBC News NOW while skipping its flagship channel entirely. CNN opted out of live coverage altogether, saying it would fold in newsworthy moments after the fact rather than air the whole thing.
CBS broke from that pattern, running most of the speech behind anchor Tony Dokoupil, who set expectations before a single word aired. “Honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic is false,” he told viewers, adding that CBS was still carrying it live “because it will be news, and it is our job to cover the news.” Fox also aired the address, though anchor Bret Baier made a point of noting on air that the network hadn’t independently verified what Trump was claiming.
The substance of the speech centered on newly declassified intelligence that Trump said proved Chinese interference in U.S. elections, a claim that runs straight into a wall built by the U.S. intelligence community’s own earlier finding: no evidence China altered the 2020 result that cost Trump the presidency.
Back in August 2025, Trump called NBC and ABC “two of the worst and most biased networks in history” and floated pulling their licenses over what he considered unfair coverage generally, not tied to any single broadcast.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr echoed that appetite around the same time in a CNBC interview, saying of one network’s license: “I would think maybe their license should be taken away.” Carr has since opened formal inquiries into ABC’s Disney-owned stations, while CBS parent Paramount waits on federal approval for its merger with Warner Bros.
Featured image via X screengrab
