Monday President Trump announced via Twitter that he would address the nation on Tuesday at 9 p.m., to discuss “the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border.”
The address announcement followed Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announcement that President Trump will be traveling to the Southern Border on Thursday.
According to The New York Times, broadcasting networks confirmed they received the White House request “for Mr. Trump to speak during the 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time slot, but producers had not decided whether to grant him the time.”
The article goes on to say that while the four major networks, “ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, have confirmed the request was made, the producers had not decided whether to grant the request.”
The article explains that “pre-empting prime-time coverage is an expensive proposition for television executives, who have sold millions of dollars’ worth of advertising against entertainment programming.”
The article adds that in the recent past the request to “interrupt prime-time” programming on the major networks has been rare, adding that typically the requests have been reserved for moments of “national import, like the death of Osama bin Laden.”
For what it’s worth: In 2014, the major networks did not air President Obama’s prime time address on immigration. It was only carried on cable news channels.
CNN reports that Vice President Mike Pence has said that White House Counsel is looking “at Trump’s ability to declare a national emergency to fund a wall.
As the News Blender reported on Monday, President Trump during his Rose Garden presser which was held Friday, said he had the authority to declare an emergency to build the wall without Congressional approval, going so far as to say he would use the “military version of eminent domain.”
President Trump’s address to the nation also comes as the government remains partially closed, as the Republicans, Democrats, and the President, failed to agree to funding.
One of the affected cabinet departments that has run out of money during the partial shutdown is the Department of Homeland Security, the department responsible for overseeing border security.
CNN also reports that Vice President Pence has also said, that while the talks between Republican leadership and Democrat leadership to reach an end to the shutdown have been “productive” that doesn’t mean there has been “progress,” on reaching a deal.
The President’s address is to be from the Oval Office, white officials have confirmed.
