MAGA-friendly network CBS aired President Trump’s speech on Thursday night despite adding a disclaimer that he had previously made “false” statements about his 2020 election loss.
Trump, 80, spoke to the nation at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, however ABC News and NBC News chose not to interrupt their regular programming to accommodate the president.
CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil introduced the network’s coverage of the speech by justifying why the Trump-approved network put the president’s speech on air, including claiming that Trump had previously made “false” statements about losing the 2020 election.
“In a few moments, President Trump will be giving a speech,” Dokoupil told viewers minutes before the 80-year-old spoke.
Noting it was expected to address the safety and security of American elections, Dokoupil said Trump had “talked a lot” about the topic for years, “at times almost constantly.”
“And honestly, much of what the president has said on this topic has been false,” Dokoupil said. “Most notably, of course, the claim that he won the 2020 election when, of course, he did not.”
He added, “Because of this, there is an argument that it’s irresponsible to air the president’s speech tonight. But this speech will be made. It will be news, and it’s our job to cover the news.”
While CBS aired the speech after the disclaimer, it cut from Trump five minutes before he ended his address and proceeded to fact-check some of his claims about Chinese interference in elections.
In a blow to Trump, the network cut the president’s speech off shortly after he had blasted NBC and ABC for not airing his address.
Dokoupil told viewers, “You’ve been listening to Donald Trump… addressing what he says is necessary to secure American elections.”
With the delayed start and abrupt finish, CBS aired 19 minutes of the president’s 26 minute speech.
After listening to Thursday’s speech, CBS Washington correspondent Major Garrett told Dokoupil that Trump had “inferred that there was still something problematic about that election. We know there was not.”
Garrett also pointed out this year’s primary elections that have been “conducted under this [voting] system that the president said is ‘catastrophically vulnerable.’ Yet he and Republicans and Democrats have accepted the elections.”
As CBS’ coverage continued during the evening, Senate Democrat Mark Warner joined the panel and immediately took Dokoupil to task for CBS airing his speech.
“I was embarrassed that the president of the United States went before our whole country, and networks like yours carried this as news, as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods,” Warner said.
“And it is incumbent upon you and any responsible journalist to push back on these falsehoods.”
Dokoupil pushed back, stating “as we said at the top… we’ve been trying to buttress and fact-check and give context and analysis… throughout.”
Ahead of the address, CBS News White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi said Trump’s speech would cover previously unreported “Chinese meddling” in elections and Beijing “compromising U.S. voter data,” as well as “evidence that the CIA knew about the action but did not share it with President Trump at the time he was in office.”
Rinaldi then offered a disclaimer, stating “I do just want to take a step back and level set with you. There were multiple agencies, even in the first Trump Administration, that reaffirmed over and over and over again that the 2020 election was fair, it was safe.”
“That came from his own Attorney General, William Barr. It came from the DHS, the DOJ, the FBI, CISA… every single organization in that Trump administration said that the election was fair and safe.”
On CBS Evening News on Thursday, hosted by Dokoupil, reporter Ed O’Keefe also added a disclaimer about Trump’s ongoing election claims.
Referencing the rumors of the “Chinese meddling” in U.S. elections, O’Keefe told viewers, “There’s no evidence any foreign entity has ever successfully directly interfered in an American election.”
CBS Evening News also included CBS News Election Law Expert David Becker stating, “Our system is incredibly secure. You can’t just attack one national entity. You would have to attack 10,000 entities in order to interfere with our elections. It would be discovered.”
The Daily Beast has contacted CBS for comment.
Trump may be disappointed with CBS’ Thursday coverage, because CBS News has taken a more MAGA-friendly approach since culture warrior Bari Weiss was installed as its editor-of-chief last October.
Weiss, 42, was installed by Paramount Skydance’s Trump-friendly owner, nepo billionaire David Ellison, despite having never worked in television news.
Ellison is in the process of trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal.
