US TV networks stop live coverage of Trump address due to ‘lies’

US President Donald Trump speaks in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC on November 5, 2020. (AFP)

WASHINGTON–Several US TV networks late Thursday halted live coverage of Donald Trump’s first public appearance since election night after concluding that the president was spreading disinformation.

Trump unleashed a flood of incendiary and unsubstantiated claims in a 17-minute address, insisting that Democrats were using “illegal votes” to “steal the election from us.”

The president spoke as late vote counting in battleground states showed Democrat Joe Biden steadily closing in on victory.

“OK, here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States but correcting the president of the United States,” said MSNBC anchor Brian Williams, as the network quickly ended its live coverage.

NBC and ABC News also pulled the plug on their live coverage of Trump.

“What a sad night for the United states of America to hear their president say that, to falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election,” said CNN’s Jake Tapper.

He described it as “lie after lie after lie about the election being stolen,” with no evidence, “just smears.”