Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is demanding that the big four television networks be given equal airtime if they air Democrat President Joe Biden’s primetime speech Wednesday night, in which he plans to explain why he is stepping down in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris instead.
David Warrington, a legal adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, sent letters to the heads of ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX, requesting that if they were to air Biden’s primetime speech, Trump be given equal time to make his case to the public. Trump accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin last week, officially becoming the Republican presidential candidate. Biden withdrew from the presidential race on Sunday and instead endorsed Harris as his successor as the Democratic presidential candidate. This means that Biden’s primetime speech on Wednesday will be a purely political speech in support of the Harris campaign.
The letters from Trump’s legal team to the networks, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News ahead of their release, argue that Biden’s speech was not a “bona fide news event” but a “prime time campaign commercial designed to boost Vice President Harris’ struggling polling ratings.”
“On July 23, 2024, President Biden announced that he would deliver a primetime speech on Wednesday, July 24, 2024,” Warrington wrote in each letter. “The speech is expected to address President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race following his panned debate performances and plummeting poll ratings. It is also expected to address President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President (and “border rep”) Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination. As such, President Biden’s speech will likely not be a bona fide news event but rather a primetime campaign commercial designed to boost VP Harris’s flagging poll ratings.”
Vice President Kamala Harris watches President Joe Biden speak in the East Room of the White House on January 24, 2023. (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott)
The next paragraph of each letter states that federal law requires that when one candidate receives airtime from a broadcast network for a campaign speech, the other candidate must be given equal airtime.
“As you know, federal law requires that if you allow a candidate for public office to use your facilities, you must also give all other candidates running for that office an equal opportunity to use your facilities,” Warrington wrote. “By broadcasting President Biden’s campaign speech, you have given a candidate for public office the use of your facilities. Therefore, you have an obligation to give President Trump an equal opportunity.”
The letter further noted that these letters from Trump’s legal advisers formally notify broadcasters that they are obligated to give Trump equal time on air as Biden.
“This letter requests equal access. It effectively notifies your station of your obligations,” Warrington wrote. “Failure to provide equal access would therefore be deemed ‘willful’ and could result in consequences up to and including revocation of your station’s license. Furthermore, providing free airtime to President Biden on behalf of VP Harris’ campaign could amount to an unjustified and excessive in-kind contribution by the corporation to the Biden (now Harris) Presidential Committee.”
The letter ends with the president saying he looks forward to the networks airing President Trump’s primetime address to the nation.
“We are awaiting announcement as to when President Trump should schedule his primetime address to the American people,” Warrington wrote.
It is unclear whether the networks will fight back or give Trump the same amount of time that his lawyers say he is entitled to under federal law.
07232024 Equal time demand (ABC) by Breitbart News On Scribd
07232024 Equal Time Demand (CBS) by Breitbart News On Scribd
07232024 Equal Time Demand (FOX) by Breitbart News On Scribd
07232024 Equal Time Demand (NBC) by Breitbart News On Scribd
