Networks to air Trump prime-time address live on Tuesday

All major networks on Monday confirmed that they will air President Trump’s Oval Office address on the government shutdown live, after some initial uncertainty over how the organizations would handle the speech.

CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Fox Business and CNN all confirmed to The Hill that the prime-time speech will air on their channels Tuesday night. CNN reported that local Fox stations and MSNBC also intend to carry the address live.

CBS said in a statement to The Hill that the address will start at 9:01:30 p.m., and the White House informed the network it will last no longer than eight minutes.

Trump announced the speech through Twitter on Monday. Multiple networks initially said they were considering whether to air it live.

{mosads}The White House also announced the president will travel to the U.S.-Mexico border amid the partial government shutdown over wall funding, which is currently in its 17th day.

The debate over whether the Trump address should be carried live or not was prominent among media members on social media, with some noting the networks still deliberating should not grant the president free airtime to push a political agenda, and others arguing the media has covered the president virtually nonstop since announcing his candidacy.

In 2014, then-President Obama reportedly put out feelers to see if the networks would pre-empt programming to carry a presidential address on immigration policy. The broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX all declined at the time, according to The Washington Post, because it was expected to be an overtly political speech. Cable news networks Fox News, CNN and MSNBC carried the November 2014 address.

– Brett Samuels contributed to this report, which was updated at 7:26 p.m.

Tags Donald Trump Donald Trump Fox News Immigration media

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