President Trump is planning to make a speech on immigration that will be air to America in prime-time. And now there are several major networks that announced on Tuesday morning they will air the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s prime-time Oval Office address.
All of the major broadcast networks — CBS and NBC, as well as Fox and ABC, according to Variety, will air the response. The major networks are not alone, the response will also air cable networks including: MSNBC, CNN and Fox News.
On Monday, all of of the major networks said they would air the president’s speech. This prompted Democratic leaders to call for space to give them opportunity to rebut the president.
“Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement on Monday.
Later, the Democratic duo said in a statement that they would be the ones to deliver a formal response. Pelosi and Schumer will deliver the address from the Capitol following Trump’s remarks.
This battle over immigration comes in the midst of a partial government shutdown that is stretching into its third week. The president has demanded more than $5 billion to build a wall along the U.S. southern border while Democrats have insisted they will not give Trump any additional wall funding. Very little progress has been made toward reaching an agreement.
Vice President Mike Pence, in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, said the president will use his speech to “explain to the American people that we have a humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.”