This article is about Trump’s 2019 speech. For information on his March 11, 2020, address on the coronavirus, click here.
All major television networks said they’ll carry tonight’s prime-time address by President Donald Trump on the escalating controversy over U.S.-Mexico border wall funding, which is causing a prolonged partial federal government shutdown.
CBS said Trump will speak for no longer than eight minutes, The Hill reported. Networks to broadcast the presidential address include CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS and Fox broadcast network, CNN Business reported.
After Trump speaks, congressional Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), will be given time for their rebuttal, according to a CNN Tweet.
JUST IN: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will deliver a response to President Trump’s prime-time address tonight https://t.co/KUZqXAopLv pic.twitter.com/igjxvh6IK3
— CNN (@CNN) January 8, 2019
The president announced on Twitter his plans to speak from the Oval Office at 9 p.m., ET.
I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2019
Over the weekend, Trump threatened to declare a national state of emergency in order to use still-unspecified presidential “emergency powers” to force a border wall to be built. Both Trump and the Democrats have agreed there is a crisis at the border. However, Democrats have called it a humanitarian crisis, while the Trump administration has framed it as an issue of national security, according to the New York Times. Initially, Trump insisted Mexico would pay for the boarder wall.
In the past, Trump’s talks to the nation have been carefully scrutinized for false information.
The fact-checking nonprofit PolitiFact, run by the Poynter Institute, said on Twitter that it will live fact-check the president’s address Tuesday night.
