CNN And Fox News Carry Donald Trump’s Post-Arraignment Speech, MSNBC Skips It; Former President Attacks D.A. And Judge In Case — Update
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UPDATE: CNN cut away from Donald Trump’s post-arraignment at Mar-a-Lago shortly before it ended, with anchor Anderson Cooper calling it a “reprise of every grievance” by the former president.
Fox News carried the 25-minute speech, while MSNBC skipped it, with Rachel Maddow telling viewers that it was a rehash of his grievances of the past.
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Trump’s speech was a bit of a test for the networks in how they will handle his presidential campaign, after criticism over the way that Trump’s rallies were given extensive, unfiltered airtime in the 2016 cycle compared to his GOP rivals. His speech tonight had the added justification of coming on the day of his unprecedented arrest and arraignment, but Maddow told viewers, “We don’t consider it newsworthy and there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.”
Cooper indicated that the network was waiting for Trump to address the arraignment, which he did about 20 minutes into his remarks.
As he has done before on Truth Social, Trump attacked District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the judge in the case, Juan Merchan.
Trump called Bragg a “local failed district attorney charging a former president of the United States for the first time in history, on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said, ‘There is no case. There is no case.'”
“But it’s far worse than that because he knew there was no case,” Trump said, calling the indictment “ridiculous.” He also called Merchan a “Trump-hating judge with a Trump hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris.” Merchan had warned parties about the rhetoric surrounding the case, including statements that may incite violence or jeopardize the safety of individuals. But he did not issue a gag order.
CNN planned to do a fact check of Trump’s remarks with Daniel Dale. CNN political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin, former communications strategist for Trump, said that his speech was “an airing of grievances, almost the greatest hits of Donald Trump. But today solidifies his place as the consumate leader of the Republican party.”
PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump’s post-arraignment speech at Mar-a-Lago had all the makings of a campaign rally, as he entered to Proud to Be An American and chants of “USA, USA, USA.”
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America. I never thought it could happen,” Trump said as he aired a list of grievances about the myriad investigations he’s facing.
CNN and Fox News carried the speech live, but MSNBC did not, at least for now.
Rachel Maddow, hosting special coverage of the indictment, told viewers that “as far as we can tell it is basically a campaign speech in which he is repeating his same lies and allegations against his perceived enemies.”
She said that Trump was airing his “normal list of grievances.”
“We don’t consider it newsworthy and there is a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things,” she said, an indirect dig at the Fox News revelations in the Dominion case. She said that the network would continue to monitor the speech for anything newsworthy.
Broadcast networks stuck with their regular programming, having interrupted their scheduled earlier in the day for special reports on the arraignment in New York.
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