When previous presidents have requested airtime to address the American people, major networks have traditionally complied.

With President Donald Trump in the White House, however, all bets are off.

And while some of Trump’s critics cheered the decision of CNN, ABC, and NBC to skip the speech and skip straight to the negative commentary, one prominent Democrat operative asserted that it was the wrong move.

As The Hill reported:

“I think the president of the United States acting loonier than a tune is newsworthy,” Carville told CNN host Wolf Blitzer during an appearance on the network. “I don’t think we should have hidden that from the American people.”

CNN, NBC News and ABC News announced in the hours ahead of Thursday’s primetime speech that they would not carry it in full on their regular channels but rather make it available for viewers to watch on streaming platforms, with live editorial coverage to follow.

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A CNN spokesperson said in a statement that Trump’s remarks would be covered as a “news event” with analysis and commentary from elections and intelligence experts. The channel also offered a live feed on its digital platforms.

“So, you think we should have given him more publicity?” Blitzer asked.

“I’m absolutely saying that,” Carville responded.

Blitzer on Friday defended his network’s handling of the coverage, noting that “a lot of the newsy excerpts” were shown and discussed on broadcasts and they had “full analysis and fact-checking going on.”

But Carville argued that clips were insufficient and cautioned that doing so could undermine credibility, as some viewers could think they were edited.

Here’s some of the reaction his comments have received:

 

The Wrap added some additional details:

He finished: “This is very newsworthy, I do think Wolf. I think the more people see this the more they’ll understand that.” 

Trump’s prime time speech featured the president sharing the declassification of what he described as intelligence showing China tried to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, alleging the Chinese government obtained sensitive U.S. voter data and that intelligence officials concealed the information from him and Congress.

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Here’s a clip of the interview:

 

 

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This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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