SAN FRANCISCO, November 04, (THEWILL) – American network news anchors forcefully called out United States President Donald Trump early Wednesday morning after he prematurely declared himself the winner of the 2020 election. This is despite the fact that millions of outstanding ballots are yet to be counted in several key states.
In a brief appearance at the East Room of the White House, Trump attacked legitimate vote counting efforts across the country, labelling it “fraud” without providing proof.
Although, all the major networks carried Trump’s address at the start, NBC News and MSNBC cut into it to note that he was peddling falsehoods.
“We’re listening to the President speaking at the White House, but we’ve got to dip in here because there have been several statements that are just frankly not true,” NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie remarked as the network broke away from Trump’s remarks.
On MSNBC’s part, Brian Williams told viewers that the network was “reluctant” to interrupt the President’s speech, but said Trump’s remarks were “not based in the facts at all.”
The other major networks who carried Trump’s speech in full, aired forceful fact-checks after it was concluded.
“Almost everything President Trump said in his declaration of victory was not true,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said.
“This is an extremely flammable situation and the President just threw a match on it,” Fox News anchor Chris Wallace noted. “He hasn’t won these states.”
On ABC News, correspondent Terry Moran didn’t mince words. “This isn’t law, this isn’t politics, this is theater,” Moran said. “And let’s be blunt: it’s the theater of authoritarianism.”
CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell said Trump was guilty of “castrating the facts of the election results.”
For months before the elections, Trump has promoted conspiracy theories and false claims that the election would be rigged and or stolen by the Democrats.
The President has especially drawn particular attention to the large volume of mail-in ballots that have been utilized by large numbers of voters because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The news executives at all major networks were well aware that Trump might make such declaration on Election Night. The executives had been reluctant to talk publicly about such a scenario, but as was seen across the media, the hosts did not hold back.
