Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday in a bid to find the funding to build a border wall, but those watching the event live on CBS didn’t miss too much time away from Plinko while watching the announcement.
The network cut away from Trump’s announcement on Friday to return to its regularly scheduled program, The Price Is Right . As The Hill noted, CBS carried the announcement for 21 minutes, cutting away before Trump had completed his remarks.
The event was originally scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m., but was delayed, cutting into the morning game show. There had already been widespread reports that Trump was planning to declare a national emergency over the border wall, which would allow him to redirect money allotted elsewhere and use it toward building a border wall that was one of his chief promises during the 2016 presidential campaign.
During the announcement, Trump claimed that there was an “invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people” that necessitated a national emergency, but critics said the declaration was just a reaction to losing a legislative battle over his demand for $5.7 billion in funding to start building the wall he had promised. Trump pushed back against reporters who asked him to corroborate statistics about rising crime and drugs, which contradict facts showing an overall decrease in illegal immigration.
The national emergency declaration was slammed by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, NBC News noted. Many said that Trump’s own actions and statements show that there is no emergency, including his frequent boasts about how much illegal immigration had fallen during his tenure. Even in his remarks on Friday, Trump said that he “didn’t have to” make the declaration, but did so in order to build the wall faster.
“By the president’s very own admission in the Rose Garden, there is no national emergency,” the ACLU said in a statement responding to Trump’s announcement. “He just grew impatient and frustrated with Congress, and decided to move along his promise for a border wall ‘faster.’ This is a patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy.”
The ACLU announced that it planned to fight Trump’s declaration in court.
CBS cuts off Trump’s emergency speech for the Price is Right https://t.co/XyuqHIe2OJ via https://t.co/TPRJZbEWdA
— Gigi & James Garner (@MavrocksGirl) February 15, 2019
The decision by CBS to cut away from Donald Trump’s remarks on a national emergency gained some viral attention, with many praising the network for refusing to give Trump a platform to spread untruths.
