Schumer and Pelosi predict Trump's prime-time address will be 'full of malice and misinformation'

(Image credit: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images)

published 8 January 2019

Democrats are asking for equal time on Tuesday night to respond to President Trump's prime-time address regarding the border.

Trump announced on Monday he's going to speak about "the humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border," and requested that the major networks air his address. After mulling it over, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC all said they will go live to his speech at 9 p.m. ET, much to the chagrin of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Pelosi and Schumer released a joint statement late Monday saying that if Trump's "past statements are any indication," his address will be "full of malice and misinformation," adding that Democrats "must immediately be given equal airtime." Trump has the power to end the government shutdown, Pelosi and Schumer said, but he continues to demand taxpayers "pay at least $5.7 billion for his wall, which can't pass either chamber of Congress and of course Mexico is not paying for."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.