NEW YORK — Two of the three major U.S. television networks and CNN did not broadcast President Donald Trump's primetime address Thursday on their primary platforms, drawing a rebuke from a president who places unprecedented pressure on American media.
The speech focused on election security four months before the critical midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state officials with fines and criminal charges Friday if they don't comply with election security measures.
At a news conference on Friday, Mullin outlined steps the Department of Homeland Security wanted states to take to ensure people who aren't U.S. citizens can't vote.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin attends President Donald Trump's address to the nation about election security Thursday night in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
The steps include securing voting machines and reviewing voter registration lists to verify citizenship status. If states don't follow the instructions, Mullin said, the federal government will look at who voted in those states and hold election officials accountable.
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"If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time," Mullin said.
On Thursday evening, Trump escalated his effort to make election security a central issue in November's midterm elections, claiming China interfered in the 2020 presidential campaign despite a U.S. intelligence assessment that found no evidence to support that claim.
Republicans face the prospect of losing one or both chambers of Congress in November with Trump's approval rating weighed down by the unpopular Iran war and high energy prices.
Nevada's top election official rejected Mullin's assertions.
"We can affirm that on its face, we refute these claims," Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said in an email. "These numbers are wildly speculative at best and the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t shared anything that backs it up."
He said Nevada repeatedly provided DHS with detailed information on how state officials maintain the list of eligible voters and the safeguards that are in place to prevent fraud.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California didn't respond to a request for comment on the DHS letter.
Mullin claimed on social media that DHS identified more than 250,000 potential noncitizens illegally registered to vote in the four states, and called for passage of Trump-backed legislation known as the SAVE America Act. Mullin didn't detail the criteria DHS used to compile the figure.
President Donald Trump speaks about election security Thursday during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Network threat
During his speech, Trump claimed networks that didn't air his speech were engaged in a "plot" and should have their licenses revoked.
"In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said they would not cover this speech," he said, adding, "Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses."
The sole Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission rejected Trump's call Friday for Disney-owned ABC and Comcast unit NBC to lose their broadcast licenses.
"It is ridiculous to call for broadcasters to lose their license simply for making the same editorial decisions they've made under presidents of both parties. Those editorial decisions are protected by the First Amendment, and the FCC has no authority to punish a station for refusing to air a blatantly political speech," FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said. "This is a naked attempt to bully broadcasters, and the FCC should have no part in it."
President Donald Trump speaks about election security Thursday during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Networks have broad First Amendment rights to decide what they choose to broadcast, experts say. Historically, broadcasters carried most such speeches on the grounds that they provide information of public importance.
ABC News ran Trump’s speech on its ABC News Live streaming platform and ABC News Radio — not its broadcast channel.
NBC News carried the president's remarks on its free streaming service, NBC News NOW, but not on its main broadcast channel.
In a statement, CNN said it would monitor the speech for news, with a live feed appearing on its website and CNN All Access, its subscription streaming channel.
President Donald Trump speaks about election security Thursday during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington.
Pressure on networks
Trump spent years sowing doubts about electoral outcomes, falsely claiming his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden was rigged. He also claimed without evidence that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, voting machines are vulnerable to manipulation and noncitizen voting is widespread.
Some Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., urged networks not to air the speech, arguing Trump was likely to repeat debunked claims.
CBS preempted its regular programming to air the president's speech, but before the broadcast, anchor Tony Dokoupil offered an advance rebuttal of what was to be expected.
“Honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic is false,” he said, before adding the reason the network was covering the speech live was because "it will be news, and it is our job to cover the news.”
President Donald Trump gestures Thursday after speaking about election security during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington.
The network broke off after about 15 minutes to debunk Trump's claims of election fraud.
Fox News carried Trump's speech live with some local Fox broadcast affiliates picking up the cable network's programming, including in New York City.
At CBS, the takeover of Paramount by David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry Ellison is a Trump ally, has roiled the newsroom and prompted the departure of senior staff from the news magazine "60 Minutes." Some employees alleged political interference in editorial decisions, which the network denies.
Ellison is now awaiting FCC approval for Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which could give him control of CNN, a network Trump has long criticized for what he claims is unfair coverage. The U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division approved the deal last month.
