Major Broadcast Networks Broke Away From Trump Press Conference After Repeated Lies

Three major broadcast networks cut away from showing live footage of President Donald Trump‘s news conference on Thursday, as he promoted false claims about the validity of the election.

ABC, CBS and NBC all cut away to correct the president’s falsehoods. CNN and Fox News continued to show the news conference, but offered fact-checking comments afterward.

MSNBC was the first outlet to cut the live broadcast, just 35 seconds into Trump’s conference. The move “was not done as a stunt, or out of theatrics,” anchor Brian Williams told viewers, but because, “we just can’t have it. It was not rooted in reality and, at this point in where our country is, it’s dangerous.”

Lester Holt of NBC Nightly News also cut in, saying there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

“We have to interrupt here, because the president made a number of false statements, including the notion that there has been fraudulent voting,” Holt said. “There has been no evidence of that.”

ABC broke in amid Trump’s remarks to say “there’s a lot to unpack here and fact-check.” And on CBS, correspondent Nancy Cordes spent a minute and a half fact-checking Trump’s erroneous claims.

While CNN did not cut away from Trump’s remarks, they did caption the live stream: “WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE, TRUMP SAYS HE’S BEING CHEATED.” Fox News on the other hand used  different wording, writing: “TRUMP: ‘THEY’RE TRYING TO STEAL THE ELECTION.’”

Fox News chief White House correspondent John Roberts told viewers after the news conference that “we haven’t seen any evidence” of voter fraud. Anchor Bret Baier agreed saying,  “we have not seen the evidence yet.”

Article by Katherine Huggins