Snopes.com7%
Did major TV networks 'refuse' to air Trump's July 16 speech? 45%
By Joey Esposito16%
7/16/2026, 11:50:06 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Ad Hominem, and Confirmation Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 23.6% saturation with 159 hits. Analysis detected 1,118 faulty-reasoning hits from 674 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 47.6% and a BS Rank of 45% (12,118 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 55.40% of the article peer group.
Did major TV networks 'refuse' to air Trump's July 16 speech?
Some major networks reportedly did not carry Trump's address live, but we could not verify the intent behind their programming decisions.
In mid-July 2026, a rumor circulated online that major television networks refused to air a July 16 speech by U.S.
President Donald Trump.
The claim emerged after the White House announced on social media that Trump would give a speech at 9 p.m EDT on July 16 without providing further details.
During the primetime address, Trump questioned the integrity of past elections, alleging vulnerabilities in voting systems, Chinese access to voter data and voter roll inaccuracies.
Social media posts claimed that ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News were among the TV networks that refused to air the president's speech on primetime TV.
One Facebook post circulating the rumor along with an image that included the TV networks' logos read, "ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC have all stayed silent on whether they'll carry the speech, ignoring repeated press inquiries.
Even more embarrassing for the White House, network schedules for Thursday at 9 p.m. still show regularly scheduled programming in Trump's slot.
It's not even clear the White House has formally asked the networks to preempt their shows at all."
At the time of publication, listings for all of the TV stations mentioned in the claim — ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and MS NOW (listed in the claim under its old nomenclature, MSNBC) — showed regularly scheduled programming on their TV listings for July 16, 2026.
They did not mention airing the president's address.
The Associated Press later reported that ABC, NBC and CNN did not air Thursday's remarks live but carried them in full on their streaming services.
CBS and MS NOW both reportedly cut away from Trump's speech before he finished, while Fox News continued to carry the address, according to the AP.
However, we could not independently confirm that some the networks "refused" to air the speech, as the intent behind their programming decisions was unverified.
Therefore, we've left this claim unrated until we receive further information.
The posts' claim that "not one major network agreed to air" Trump's address was also unsubstantiated at the time of publication.
Snopes reached out to the networks named in the posts and the White House press office.
All of the networks apart from CNN, as well as the White House, had not responded.
After this story's initial publication, CNN told Snopes via email:
CNN will cover the President's speech as a news event, and monitor it for news developments, providing analysis and commentary from CNN experts who cover elections, intelligence and the FBI.
A live feed of the speech, alongside analysis and expert commentary, will be available on CNN.com and available on CNN's All Access streaming platform.
According to a July 16 report by The Hollywood Reporter, ABC reportedly said it would "broadcast a special report when the speech concludes."
"We will also cover the speech in our regular network newscasts and, as always, our Special Report team is fully prepared to break into network programming to deliver live updates and reporting should significant developments occur," an ABC spokesperson reportedly told the outlet.
The Hollywood Reporter also reported that the speech aired on ABC and NBC affiliate stations owned by Sinclair, a conservative-leaning television conglomerate.
C-SPAN also hosted a livestream of the speech.
Trump claimed during his address that NBC and ABC refused to air it due to the content.
He said (emphasis ours):
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 — 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.
They and others in the media are part of a plot.
The president further called for a revocation of the networks' broadcast licenses.
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