Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is demanding from the big four broadcast television networks equal time on air if they carry outgoing Democrat President Joe Biden’s primetime speech on Wednesday evening wherein Biden is planning to explain why he is stepping aside and endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris instead.
David Warrington, counsel for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, sent letters to the heads of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX demanding that if they air Biden’s primetime address, Trump be given equal time to make his own case to the public. Trump is now formally the Republican nominee for president, having accepted the nomination last week at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and instead endorsed Harris to succeed him as the Democrat nominee for president. That means Biden’s primetime address on Wednesday would be a purely political speech in favor of the Harris campaign.
These letters to the networks from Trump’s legal team, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News ahead of their public release, argue that Biden’s speech does not represent a “bona fide news event” but instead represents “a primetime campaign commercial to boost Vice President Harris’ anemic poll numbers.”
“On July 23, 2024, President Biden announced that he would be giving a primetime speech on Wednesday, July 24, 2024,” Warrington writes in each letter. “This speech is expected to address President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race in the wake of his widely panned debate performance and freefalling poll numbers. It is also expected to address President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President (and “border czar”) Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination for president. As such, it appears that President Biden’s speech will not be a bona fide news event, but rather, a primetime campaign commercial to boost Vice President Harris’ anemic poll numbers.”
The next paragraph of each letter notes that federal law provides that if one candidate gets airtime from a broadcast network for a campaign speech, the other side must be given equal time.
“As you are aware, under federal law, if you permit the use of your facilities by a candidate for public office, you are required to ‘afford equal opportunities to all other candidates for that office to use such facilities,’” Warrington writes. “By broadcasting President Biden’s campaign speech, you have permitted the use of your facilities by a candidate for public office. Thus, you are obligated to provide an equal opportunity for President Trump.”
The letters continue by noting these letters from Trump’s legal counsel serve as official notice to the networks of their obligations to give Trump equal time to Biden on air.
“This letter shall constitute a request for equal access. This letter provides actual notice of your obligations,” Warrington writes. “Therefore, any failure to provide equal access may be considered ‘willful’ and result in consequences up to and including the revocation of your station license. Moreover, your granting of free airtime to President Biden to speak on behalf of Vice President Harris’ campaign may result in an impermissible and excessive corporate in-kind contribution to the Biden (now Harris) for President Committee.”
The letters conclude by informing the networks they look forward to scheduling Trump’s primetime address to the nation.
“We await word on when we should schedule President Trump’s primetime address to the American people,” Warrington writes.
It’s unclear if the networks will fight this or if they will give Trump the equal time his attorney says he is entitled to under federal law.
