Donald Trump lashed out Tuesday at a pair of cable networks other than Fox News for failing to carry all of his Iowa caucus victory speech live, implying that what they did was so horrible that they should “have their licenses, or whatever they have, taken away.”
The quadruply indicted Republican contender raised the problem while speaking to supporters in New Hampshire, which holds its primary in a week. The former president has previously threatened to retaliate against news organizations whose reporting he disagrees with.
“Last night was wonderful. NBC and CNN refused to telecast my victory speech—think about it—because they are crooked, dishonest, and, honestly, they should lose their licenses or whatever they have taken away.”
Trump made similar remarks multiple times during his presidency, and none of them were particularly noteworthy. Last November, he also called for a “treason” inquiry into Comcast, NBC News’ parent corporation.
“They put on Nikki Haley —she came in third, a distant third,” Trump went on to say, “and they put on Ron [DeSantis] , who came in a boring second.”
Despite Trump’s claim that both networks “refused to air” his address, they did air parts of it. CNN aired around the first nine minutes of his 22-minute speech before breaking away. The network would play all of DeSantis’ less-than-four-minute address, followed by the first 11 minutes of Haley’s remarks before cutting back out.
NBC News, meanwhile, carried Trump’s first five minutes behind the podium before returning a few minutes later for another five. The network aired only a portion of DeSantis’ speech and a few minutes of Haley’s.
Fox News, on the other hand, broadcast Trump’s address from start to finish. It did the same for DeSantis but not Haley.
Trump’s habit of making incorrect claims in front of cameras—such as on Election Night in 2020—has prompted some cable networks to exercise greater caution. MSNBC, for example, refused to broadcast his remarks to reporters when he was detained in New York last April, with host Rachel Maddow stating that there is “a cost to us as a news organization of knowingly broadcasting untrue things.” The network followed suit on Monday night.